The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development periodically surveys teaching and learning issues (the TALIS surveys) in the most developed countries. In their 2009 report, they commented that although teacher quality is the fundamental component in high performing systems, the education sector has been slow to develop systemic…

Kentucky is no stranger to education reform, having worked for the better part of 20 years on raising standards to improve student achievement. In 2009, the Kentucky General Assembly called for more rigorous standards to address high school graduates' college and career readiness. So when the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief…

Accountability and dissemination of its work are important elements of Cedefop's policy to provide assurance to stakeholders for resources used and results achieved. For a centre of expertise and policy advice like Cedefop, the impact of which is hard to gauge for the common European citizen, legitimacy of public expenditure is important, and is…

The theme of qualifications frameworks and their relation to quality assurance is gaining urgency in the European scene as more and more countries are completing their national qualifications frameworks and quality assurance agencies need to take important decisions on how to implement them. Some of the key features of the qualifications…

Academic standards and performance outcomes are a major focus of the current Cycle 2 Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) audits. AUQA has clearly stated that universities will need to provide "evidence of setting, maintaining, and reviewing institutional academic standards and outcomes" (2010, p. 27). To do this, universities…

This report summarizes the thirteenth survey of states by the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) at the University of Minnesota. Results are presented for 49 states and 6 of the 11 unique states. The purpose of this report is to provide a snapshot of the new initiatives, trends, accomplishments, and emerging issues during this…

This article explains the process that is causing systems of teacher education in the EU, the USA and elsewhere to converge into a form of fewer qualitative distinctions. We argue that expansion brought about by processes familiar to globalisation is creating wide differences in the cost of information that incentivises use of standardised…

This paper examines fragility, capacity development and education and the links between these by analysing relevant research and policy literature. It proposes ways forward for action and reflection at national, regional and international levels. An important element of capacity development in education systems is the establishment of education…

"Developing Acceptable Evidence in Educational Technology Research" (Schrum et al., 2005) and its precursor editorial, "A Proactive Approach to a Research Agenda for Educational Technology" (Bull, Knezek, Roblyer, Schrum, & Thompson, 2005), are unprecedented collaborative efforts by journal editors to influence research in…