In the opening paper in this Special Edition I outlined the major issues that led to the establishment of "project e-scape". The project was intended to develop systems and approaches that enabled learners to build real-time web-based portfolios of their performance (initially) in design & technology and additionally to build systems…

Most standardized achievement tests do not provide much information that can be used in improving an educational program. Teachers and other program developers need to know what kinds of program objectives are being learned and by what kinds of students and what kinds are not being learned and by whom. Information of this sort furnishes a basis…

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…

A President's Commission makes several recommendations for a national effort to increase Americans' competence in foreign languages. Federal funding for teacher education programs, for institutions that encourage foreign language learning, for the development of special language and international studies high schools, and for experimental teaching…

Prepared as part of the Career Education Project of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), the paper deals with curriculum development and implementation. Using current literature on the topic as a point of reference, topics dealt with include: (1) the role of curriculum in career education, (2) the impact of career education on State…

Describes developments in the fields of learning theory, assessment, and politics of national and state assessments. Shows how use of these developments and modern assessment and evaluation methodologies can address some long-standing problems in Chapter 1 evaluation. Focuses on linking classroom and school improvement with Chapter 1 program…

Issues in the development of assessments of higher order thinking skills for college graduates are discussed in the order in which they were presented when this series of papers was commissioned. With regard to Issue 1, it is generally agreed that the development of these skills is a desirable goal, but there is little consensus on how they should…

The joint UNESCO-UNICEF Monitoring Education-for-All Goals Project was launched in September 1992. The first phase of the project was implemented in five pilot countries (China, Jordan, Mali, Mauritius, and Morocco) with the express aim of providing national decision makers with practical tools for monitoring basic education in their countries and…

In light of the National Education Goals of 1990, several arguments against any federally funded large-scale census approach to the assessment of college student learning in the United States are presented to clarify challenges to an objective of Goal 5, which specifies that "the proportion of college graduates who demonstrate advanced…

This is the third periodic report on the programs and plans of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The challenge facing the NCES is to collect and analyze data that track the growth and change in educational experience in the United States. Current programs toward this goal, future plans, and major publications of the NCES are…

The 1990s show distinct changes from the 1960s in terms of the views held by education practitioners, policymakers, and the public concerning the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Developments such as the national education goals, the prospect of voluntary national education standards, and the possibility of a national system of…

The monograph provides background information, questions and comments about current trends in development theory and practice and their impact on education. It is offered as a framework for consideration by policy makers, planners, and administrators in developing countries and in aid-giving agencies who are concerned with policies and programs to…

One of a series of special reports issued by Project Baseline, a national study of vocational education and manpower training, the study attempts to determine whether the disadvantaged and handicapped have been served by the Vocational Education Act of 1963, the Amendments of 1968, and subsequent legislation. The report is based on a review of…

Information collected from interviews with 15 ministers of education and 30 program directors and researchers at 18 universities in Venezuela, Costa Rica, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina is used to study academic programs which prepare persons to be educational planners and administrators. Section one describes background…

The report examines the present position of adult education in Scotland, its future aims, and how these aims might be achieved. Following a summary of 66 recommendations by the committee, 13 chapters, divided into two sections, present: (1) definitions of terms; (2) an historical review, from the seventeenth century to the present; (3) present…