Statewide exit examinations play an important role in discussions on school effectiveness. Referring to educational governance concepts, this paper presumes a relation between varying organizational structures of statewide examinations across states, and heterogeneous effects on school actors. It is assumed that their ability to affect work in…

This paper examines the current academic and policy literatures concerning school evaluation in primary and secondary education within the OECD countries. First, it provides a typology of the existing systems of school evaluation across the OECD. It encompasses the diverse criteria and instruments commonly used to carry out schools evaluation, as…

This paper examines four common measures of treatment outcomes--ethical standards, statistical analysis, standards of care, and social validation--and explores the inherent problems associated with each. Ethical standards may assure the public that only reasoned professional approaches are used, but the ethical treatment of patients does not mean…