This article reports on the New Zealand education quality assurance and school monitoring system, including its framework, and responsibilities of agencies. It first gives an outline of the education system in New Zealand, and then introduces the role of school charters and levels of schooling. To ensure the quality of schools, the methods of…

This article reports the results of an investigation to identify the disciplinary strengths and the international standing of the higher education institutions in South Africa. Even though comparative assessments provide valuable information for research administrations, researchers and students such information is not available in South Africa…

Since 1996, the Center for Education Reform has released an annual report card, grading each state's charter school legislation and labeling as the "strongest" those laws placing the fewest and slightest restrictions on charter schools. While the Center for Education Reform rankings have undoubtedly been the most influential, at least four other…

This booklet aims to provide policy advice and support to decision-makers and managers in the area of quality assurance in higher education. In order to do so, the authors describe and discuss major issues that decision-makers in charge of quality assurance need to consider for the creation or development of an external quality assurance (EQA)…

The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) is responsible for carrying out external inspections of all schools in England, in the UK. Compared with early inspections, there is now an increased focus on the contribution that school self-evaluation can make to the inspection process. However, it is clear from studies undertaken in recent years…

This article examines an application of appreciative inquiry (AI), a contemporary approach to organizational change that is increasingly evident in the business world, as a participative means of school improvement. AI appears relevant to contemporary themes in literature on school improvement such as self-evaluation, capacity-building and…

Global university rankings have cemented the notion of a world university market arranged in a single "league table" for comparative purposes and have given a powerful impetus to intranational and international competitive pressures in the sector. Both the research rankings by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the composite rankings by…

This manuscript seeks to share the continuous improvement endeavors by the College of Education faculty and administration at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte from initial preparation and planning through their successful national and state accreditation achieved in November 2005. Beginning with the unit's revision of their conceptual…

There have been calls to increase the autonomy of higher education institutions in Europe for a number of years. They have been counterbalanced by demands for increasing accountability and a European quality assurance system. In London in 2007, the European ministers of education decided to implement a European register of accredited quality…

This publication presents seven papers as well as workshop summaries from a conference on managing quality assurance frameworks of further education and higher education validating bodies in the United Kingdom. Two opening papers reflect on managing quality assurance: "Key Issues" (Anne Stennett) and "Quality Fears at the FE/HE…

This report evaluates the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, emphasizing the role and responsibilities of the Commission as specified in Alabama law. The Evaluation Committee sought perspective on the Commission's performance from a wide variety of educational, political, and civic leadership via a questionnaire, interviews, hearings, and…

The process of school review currently used in Victoria (Australia) involves an internal school evaluation, a School Review Board visit and report, and a followup stage. Six months after the board had visited one high school, a retrospective view of the review process was gathered from 8 students, 9 parents, 24 teachers, and 5 administrators. As a…

This guide assists institutions preparing for evaluation by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education as they organize and conduct their self-study processes and report the results. Chapter I outlines the purposes of self-study and the Commission's expectations for self-study. Chapter II offers advice and suggestions for establishing a…

This paper outlines a recently implemented set of procedures for the approval of teacher education programs in the state of Arkansas. Information is included on: (1) regulations and standards for state approval of teacher education programs; (2) agenda for team visits conducting on-site evaluation; and (3) standards for program accountability. The…

Results of a survey concerning accreditation are presented based on 374 responses provided by chief executive officers and other college officials. The findings, which were statistically adjusted to produce national estimates, provide information on: respondents' experience with the accreditation process; issues concerning institutional…