Describes Australia's program of educational assistance to developing countries, indicating that over three-quarters of the assistance is for higher education. Suggests that the program's bias is driven by commercial considerations. Advocates increased assistance to basic education programs because of their greater relevance to developing…

Describes Assessment of Basic Competencies (ABC), a methodology for measuring writing, arithmetic, and selected life skills that is simple, inexpensive, and easy to reproduce. Provides results of a pilot implementation of ABC among 2,100 children in Bangladesh between the ages of 11 and 12. (35 citations) (MAB)

This document discusses the need to increase the amount of U.S. international funding that goes to basic education. Because U.S. foreign aid programs are reviewed prior to a new fiscal year, this paper suggests that people can make a difference by working to raise the profile of basic education and by encouraging U.S. policymakers to increase…

Discusses decision making and politics in teacher education. In Papua New Guinea, poor command of the English language led to implementation of an intensive, controversial program in teacher education colleges. The article presents comments on teacher education, language, and competency testing in England, Wales, Brazil, Canada, and the United…

Examines Papua New Guinea's Basic Skills Program to promote teacher competency, particularly in English and mathematics. A study explored 53 teacher college lecturers' perceptions of the national examinations. The lecturers considered that the examinations were neither valid nor reliable, disrupted college life, and were based on political…

Faced with the fact that over 50% of its citizens are illerate, and recognizing the link between illiteracy, poverty, and disease, the government of Kenya, in 1963, created an adult literacy program. The program's objectives were (1) to train literacy teachers, (2) to produce materials for teaching and learning and for continuing education after…