In recent years a number of reports have raised alarm over the deteriorating state of U.S. science and technology (S&T) competitiveness. But a recent report by the RAND Corporation, "U.S. Competitiveness in Science and Technology," argues that the U.S. continues to lead the world. RAND's report has been interpreted to suggest that the "clarion…

The Idaho Rural Education Task Force was formed in July 2007 with the goal of proposing and examining solutions to challenges facing rural schools. The task force's work this year has focused on three areas: recruitment and retention of highly qualified teachers, funding shortages related to insurance costs and staff allowances, and the technology…

This report describes the condition of teacher education preparation at authorized colleges and universities in Colorado, including the total program enrollments, enrollments by licensure or endorsement area, and student demographic and institutional-level data. All approved teacher preparation programs at institutions of higher education, public…

"Leading indicators"--indicators that provide early signals of progress toward academic achievement--enable education leaders, especially at the central office level in a school district, to make more strategic and less reactive decisions about services and supports to improve student learning. These indicators are a way of viewing and…

Those responsible for designing, maintaining, and delivering engineering education are asking questions to understand the outcomes of undergraduate engineering programs. These questions have been motivated by concerns about the declining interest in studying engineering, the continued lack of gender and ethnic diversity in the engineering…

The annual collection and publication by the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council (SFC) of college performance indicators has focused attention on what these indicators actually tell and whether they provide a fully comprehensive and meaningful story of what college learners achieve. Since 2005 HMIE has overtly made more holistic…

The Louisiana Board of Regents is the first in the nation to publicly use a performance model based upon the achievement of students in grades 4-9 as one of several measures to examine the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs. The State has supported the development and implementation of a Value Added Teacher Preparation Assessment Model…

For a multitude of reasons candidates do not always complete all assessments in the examinations they are entered for. Using examination data across a range of GCSE specifications offered by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance, this article details the impact of "unaccepted" absence on educational attainment, and explores absence…

The article reports a study of factors associated with different levels of examination performance among thirty secondary schools in a district of Kenya. There are very limited data on school effectiveness in developing countries but there is some evidence that resource levels and aspects of teacher quality may be important. The research found…

This paper examined university educational service delivery strategy in a changing world as it affects ethical values and leadership integrity in Nigeria. This was for the purpose of determining appropriate strategies for improving the quality of service delivery system in Nigerian universities. The paper submits that the quality and quantity of…

Over the past decade there has been increasing concern with aid effectiveness, and, more generally, development effectiveness. New ways of delivering aid have been developed, including sector-wide approaches and direct budget support. This paper reports on the progress that has been made through some of these new modalities of aid to education, as…

The rationale underpinning UK higher education (HE) has changed significantly over the last 20 years. Government policy dictates that 50% of 18-30 year-olds should be in HE by the year 2010. Students enter HE almost solely for the exchange value of the qualification and the expectation of enhanced career prospects in business and industry. This…

Using longitudinal curriculum data which they have collected over a ten year period from a nationally representative sample of primary schools (funded by grants from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority), the authors report on evidence of changing models of subject provision within the primary curriculum. The period 1997-2007 has evidenced…

This paper is an examination of statewide district writing achievement gain data from the Nebraska Statewide Writing Assessment system and implications for statewide assessment writing models. The writing assessment program is used to gain compliance with the United States No Child Left Behind Law (NCLB), a federal effort to influence school…

Background: This article serves as a conclusion to a TCR special issue devoted to understanding the impact of the Spencer Foundation's Research Training Grant (RTG) initiative. We examine four case reports prepared by scholars at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of California at Los Angeles…