The guiding principles and procedures for pupil assessment in Portuguese compulsory education were established by the Implementing Order No. 1/2005, 5th January, with amendments introduced by the Implementing Orders No. 18/2006, 14th March and No. 5/2007, 10th January, and apply to the learning objectives and competencies defined for the various…

Presents the National Endowment for the Arts' summary of educational needs, program emphases, and future directions as contained in its "Five-Year Planning Document, 1990-1994." Provides an overview of the 1988-1994 planning document, as well as a comparison of previous and current observations regarding the National Endowment's…

The Swedish school system comprises: (1) Pre-primary school (Forskola), typical age 1-5; (2) Preschool class in the compulsory school (Grundskola) typical age 6 (participation voluntary); (3) Compulsory school, typical age 7-16, grades 1-9, and (4) Upper secondary school, 17 programmes (4 mainly academic, 13 vocational), typical age 16-19, grades…

Discusses three recent attempts to establish national science-education standards: "Project 2061: Science for All Americans"; the National Research Council's national standards for curriculum, teaching, and assessment; and the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. Suggests that such reform movements could provide useful direction to local…

The Polish school education system makes a distinction between two types of assessment: (1) Intra-school or internal assessment; and (2) External assessment. The idea of introducing external examinations into the Polish school education system emerged in 1992. This was directly inspired by study visits to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands…

Discusses the content and implications of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's review of vocational education in Canada. The external examiners critized vocational education courses as inferior and not integrated with general education, which the process of career development requires. (MF)

Reports of declining test scores and high school graduates who can't read or compute have triggered a public demand for higher standards in education. In light of this demand, National Assessment re-examined its role with respect to raising educational quality in this country. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) asked seven…

The education system in Mauritius bears the influence of British education. Preprimary education is fee paying. Primary schooling is free and covers 6 years. This leads to a highly selective Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) which opens the doors of secondary schooling. Since 1991, secondary education is also free and compulsory. But 80% of…

Assessment and testing associated with implementation of the national curriculum developed by the British Department of Education and Science (London) are reviewed. Topics addressed include: profile components in the assessment framework, assessment and testing methods, bias in assessments, assurance of confidence in national assessment,…

Discusses the evolution of state-level assessment activities of college graduates' skills/outcomes to provide a context for a proposed national system and examines extent and types of testing in six states. Addresses the purposes of postsecondary assessment and draws conclusions as to institutional support needed to sustain a collaborative system.…

This brochure describes the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a program that aims to improve the effectiveness of the nation's schools by making objective information about student performance in selected learning areas available to policymakers at the national, regional, state, and local levels. Commonly known as the…

Parallel to the implementation of the comprehensive school system in Sweden, English has become obligatory for all pupils and has acquired increasing prominence. This is a report on the EPAL (English at the junior level) project in Sweden, a project which can be compared to FLES in the U.S. and the French-teaching project in England. The general…

The development of postsecondary technical engineering education in Belgium is traced. Problems that are discussed include: the proliferation of engineering schools, government role, industry school relationship, and the maintenance of high quality engineering programs. (BH)

The publication presents the final report of the U.S. Office of Education citizen education project, focusing on major issues relating to the concepts of citizenship and citizen education. The objective is to contribute to a clear delineation of goals, strategies, and needs. The document is divided into five chapters. Chapter I explains the need…

The report, requested by the government of India, describes one of several projects related to vocational guidance services. Assistance in the continuing development of the national program of vocational guidance is provided by: examining the existing arrangements for giving guidance to young people to help them enter employment or training…