The record of charter schools has been a mixed bag. They have become racialized, radicalized into business-generation schemes, scorned by teachers unions, and in some cases rammed down the throats of poorer communities. But charter schools sometimes have spotlighted best practice in urban education. In this article, Samuel D. Henry, a former…

In an effort to enhance the quality of early childhood education (ECE) at scale, nearly all U.S. states have recently adopted Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS). These accountability systems give providers and parents information on program quality and create both reputational and financial incentives for program improvement. However,…

The purpose of this study was to determine if the minimum number of observations stated in a district's teacher evaluation plan, observation characteristics described in a district's evaluation plan, and the characteristic of those evaluating teachers had an impact on whether a school would receive a bonus or penalty point for Indiana's A-F…

School inspection has formed part of both English and Swedish approaches to governing education for some time now. But latterly due to the neo liberal drive for educational excellence, both countries have remodelled their inspector workforce. Using Jacobsson's theory of governance as a regulative, meditative and inquisitive activity, this chapter…

This paper briefly examines the epistemic orientation of the Politics discipline in South Africa, and specifically in "formerly white universities". The focus is to expose the disparity between this epistemic orientation and the South African locale that it finds itself in; that is, a locale whose history is different from its…

Like its 2008 predecessor, the, 2014 Research Excellence Framework was a high-stakes exercise. For universities and their constituent departments, it had zero-sum implications for league table position in a way that the 2001 exercise did not, and "post facto" it is having a significant effect on investment and disinvestment as…

Global university rankings currently attract considerable attention, and it is often assumed that such rankings may cause universities to prioritize activities and outcomes that will have a positive effect in their ranking position. A possible consequence of this could be the spread of a particular model of an "ideal" university. This…

This article synthesises the role of evaluation at the municipal, school, classroom and parental levels of governance, and discusses the results of the articles appearing in this special issue. The discussion concerns the role of evaluation in school governance, the value of evaluation for local school development, the constitutive effects of…

This paper explores the use, functions and constitutive effects of evaluation systems in local school governance, and identifies how contextual factors affect various uses of evaluation in this context. This case study of three Swedish municipalities demonstrates that local evaluation systems are set up to effectively sustain local school…

In this chapter, two student members of the Student Voice Collaborative (SVC) describe their experiences as "Student Shadows" during the annual Quality Review process, used throughout the New York Department of Education to evaluate how well schools are organized to support student achievement. They chronicle how this experience enhanced…

It is often necessary for nonprofit organizations (NPOs) to formulate a Request for Proposal (RFP) to procure essential contracted services. This is most common when seeking the services of an external evaluator. Since most NPOs do not have internal evaluation staff, developing an appropriate RFP can be quite challenging. With limited literature…

Faced with the rapid pace of knowledge expansion, higher education institutions are challenged to raise the efficacy of student education, overcoming the traditionally rigid teaching-centred approach, and shifting the focus instead towards learning, while preparing competent professionals who are able to self-manage knowledge. This paper outlines…

This research examined strategic actions in European universities through the institutional evaluation reports of the EUA. EUA reports for 21 universities from seven European countries were included in the data set. Qualitative inquiry was carried out and six sub-sections in the reports were used as established themes. The findings were then…

This paper explores the emotional experiences of elementary school inspections, from the appointment of the first State school inspectors in 1839 to 1911 when Edward Holmes, the retiring chief inspector, signposted the prospects of a new era in elementary education. The paper is arranged in two parts: the first provides an outline of the origins…

This article discusses the tension between quality assurance and quality enhancement in engineering education at a programme level. It acknowledges that accreditation has evolved for many years, but does not agilely support innovation or implement changes in educational programmes. Existing quality assurance systems, institutional collaboration…