It is important for policymakers and managers of higher education institutions knowing how well their universities are operating. This article aimed to show that data envelopment analysis (DEA) can be an excellent benchmarking instrument in higher education. First, by using several inputs and outputs at the institutional level, DEA can identify…

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is an international comparative study designed to measure trends in mathematics and science achievement at grades 4 and 8, as well as to collect information about educational contexts (such as students' schools, teachers, and homes) that may be related to student achievement. TIMSS has…

Purpose: Education is a key institution of modern society, long recognized for its central role in the reproduction of inequities and with the potential to challenge them. Schools behave as their systems are designed. Achieving equity and excellence is not possible through attempts to fix "the school" or educators. Principles of systemic…

There is an increasing requirement in higher education (HE) worldwide to deliver excellence. Benchmarking is widely used for this purpose, but methodological approaches to the creation of benchmark metrics vary greatly. Approaches require selection of factors for inclusion and subsequent calculation of benchmarks for comparison. We describe an…

The aim of this study is to compare students' use of number sense strategies based on their mathematics success levels. Participants were 129 seventh graders from three elite secondary schools in Trabzon. Data were collected through a written examination with 10 problems and semi-structured interviews. Interview data were analyzed by considering…

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is an international comparative study of student performance in reading literacy at the fourth grade. PIRLS 2016 marks the fourth iteration of the study, which has been conducted every 5 years since 2001. New to the PIRLS assessment in 2016, ePIRLS provides a computer-based extension to…

In 1989, New Zealand started to follow an international trend of reforming education policy according to the neoliberal principles of competition, choice and self-managing schools. Since then, the increasing availability of digital data in schools has corresponded with the development of student achievement measurement tools and benchmarking of…

Consistent with quality enhancement, we report on how we used a continuous improvement cycle to formalise and embed an academic development and support programme for our School's sessional staff. Key factors in establishing and maintaining the programme included: local change agents supported initially by institutional project funding; School…

This paper discusses methods for benchmarking vocational education and training colleges and presents results from a number of models. It is conceptually difficult to benchmark vocational colleges. The colleges typically offer a wide range of course programmes, and the students come from different socioeconomic backgrounds. We solve the…

Maximum number of privately funded engineering institutions have been established in India in the last two decades to meet the growing needs of technical manpower required by the Engineering and IT companies as well as aspiring students after completion of the Pre-University Program. However, a large number of institutions have not been able to…

Principal Wilma Culton's professional development in the last few years has had her setting out for Singapore, conferencing in Canada, and bopping over to Berlin to check out what experts and the best educators around the world know about helping kids learn. The head of a primary school just outside Melbourne, Australia, Culton is a prime example…

This study was conducted to systematically track and benchmark upper primary school students' ESL reading comprehension ability and subsequently generate data at the micro and macro levels according to individual achievement, school location, gender and ethnicity at the school, district, state and national levels. The main intention of this…

Background: Since the discontinuation of Standard Attainment Tests (SATs) in science at age 11 in England, pupil performance data in science reported to the UK government by each primary school has relied largely on teacher assessment undertaken in the classroom. Purpose: The process by which teachers are making these judgements has been unclear,…

Access to universities across the United Kingdom remains a challenge despite improvements in recent years. Those challenges are still more marked in Scotland than in the other nations, as this report shows. This report lays bare the extent of the challenge. Scotland has a different approach to higher education. It no longer charges tuition fees,…

Little research has been done into how the results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) affect national educational reform and policy-making. This paper examines the normative impact of PISA by investigating how, and the extent to which , national policy actors use PISA in policies and practices, to evaluate and improve…