School inspections have become an important instrument of quality assurance and quality development in many European countries. So far, the focus of empirical research on school inspections has been on the acceptance of the procedure among the school-internal actors, its influence for internal quality development and its effects on student…

This report for Estonia forms part of the OECD Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in Schools. The purpose of the review is to explore how school resources can be governed, distributed, utilised and managed to improve the quality, equity and efficiency of school education. School resources are understood in a broad way,…

Grand challenges stress the importance of multi-disciplinary research, a multi-actor approach in examining the current state of affairs and exploring possible solutions, multi-level governance and policy coordination across geographical boundaries and policy areas, and a policy environment for enabling change both in science and technology and in…

The higher education sub-sector of the entire education system is very important and plays pivotal role in all walks of life. Quality in the universities cannot be orchestrated without charismatic and effective administration doubled with management decision-making techniques. The study was aimed at evaluating the management techniques used in…

As part of the "American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009," the U.S. Department of Education sponsored the "Race to the Top" competition to encourage education reforms anchored in improving teacher effectiveness as a driver for improving student-achievement outcomes and closing achievement gaps. The New York State…

This study reviews the historical trend of college revenues and expenditures from a national perspective using primarily data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) as reported by the Delta Project for the years 1999-2009. Looking at trends related to state and local appropriations, college costs and prices, output, and…

Over the past decade and a half, state governments have assumed greater responsibility over demand-side management (DSM) operations. Whereas DSM programs formerly were initiated primarily by utilities or state public utility commissions, they are now becoming increasingly state-initiated and incentivized through funding mechanisms or…

This article offers an analysis of the origins, evolution, and impact of the Obama administration's Race to the Top (RTTT) competitive grant program and places it in the broader context of the debate over the No Child Left Behind Act and the shifting intergovernmental relations around education. RTTT is fundamentally about two things: creating…

Educational policy might productively be conceptualized with an ecology metaphor. Each policy, thus considered, exists within a complex system that reflects varied international, national, regional, and local dynamics. Using this metaphor provides policy analysts with a view of the regularities and irregularities of any policy, its process, its…

This report provides a first-of-its-kind descriptive summary of private school expenditures. It includes comparisons of expenditures among different types and affiliations of private schools, and it also compares those expenditures with public school expenditures for districts in the same state and labor market. Results indicate that (1) the…

We employ Data Envelopment Analysis to compute the technical efficiency of Italian and English higher education institutions. Our results show that, in relation to the country-specific frontier, institutions in both countries are typically very efficient. However, institutions in England are more efficient than those in Italy when we compare…

There is widespread agreement that many of California's high schools are doing a poor job of preparing their students for college and careers. The James Irvine Foundation is sponsoring a major initiative to develop "Multiple Pathways"--now called the Linked Learning approach--as a strategy for improving the performance of California high…

We use administrative data to examine how "clock" policies--program time limits and recurring deadlines for confirming eligibility--affected participation in South Carolina's TANF and Food Stamp Programs from 1996-2003. South Carolina's TANF program limits most families to two years of benefits in any ten-year period; so, recipients…

Funders and program planners want to know: What does it cost to operate a high-quality after-school or summer program? This study answers that question, discovering that there is no "right" number. Cost varies substantially, depending on the characteristics of the participants, the goals of the program, who operates it and where it is located.…

Students and their families must cover, on average, 83% of the roughly $16,000 cost of attendance for a full-time, in-state undergraduate at a state university in Florida. On average, 75% of the cost of attendance in Florida's public universities is from expenses other than tuition and fees and books. The largest expense is room and board,…