This qualitative single-case research study was conducted to gain deeper understanding of the institutional processes to address shared governance accreditation criteria and to determine whether institutional processes altered stakeholder perceptions of shared governance. The data collection strategies were archival records and personal…

"The U21 Ranking of National Higher Education Systems" released in May 2012 is a new player on the scene of university rankings, after ARWU, QSWUR and THEWUR, but with a different perspective--that of whole nations. It has some new features that enhance its validity, but it also shares some of the conceptual and methodological problems…

The profound influence of globalization seems helping outshine the concept of "education" with the more flexible notion of "learning" in the education policies of major transnational organizations. With considerable differences in concepts, all of them are promoting "learning", more specifically LLL (lifelong…

The educational environment has been increasingly acknowledged as vital for high-quality medical education. As a result, several instruments have been developed to measure medical educational environment quality. However, there appears to be no consensus about which concepts should be measured. The absence of a theoretical framework may explain…

Educationalists are well able to find fault with rankings on numerous grounds and may reject them outright. However, given that they are here to stay, we could also try to improve them wherever possible. All currently published university rankings combine various measures to produce an overall score using an additive approach. The individual…

A performance-based funding system like the United Kingdom's "Research Excellence Framework" (REF) symbolizes the re-rationalization of higher education according to neoliberal ideology and New Public Management technologies. The REF is also significant for disclosing the kinds of behaviour that characterize universities' response to…

This National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) policy statement outlines the warrant for multiple, systematic approaches to obtain evidence of authentic student achievement. The importance of assessing student learning in college has yet to capture the attention of policy makers or the public. Indeed, few outside the academy know…

Global rankings constitute a powerful instrument for the positioning of universities in the world educational space. Institutions that are included on the list of the top five hundred get financial support from the state and from business structures; they attract the best instructors and professors from all over the world. In recognition of this,…

Since 2008, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) has annually surveyed the nation's authorizers. Survey findings provide an annual measuring stick for those in the field of authorizing, and they help education decision makers, foundations, legislators, and researchers inform their understanding of the field of charter…

The year 2016 marks the 10th anniversary of the "Education Next" poll on K-12 education policy, offering "Education Next" the opportunity to take a retrospective look at public opinion on this vital topic. In 8 of the past 10 years, "Education Next" has also surveyed teachers on the subject and has seen some…

East Asian higher education has experienced an important shift by it's national universities to pay increasing attention to rankings in the wake of globalization. This critical feature influences inter-university competition for resources, faculty and students. During this process, these universities have restructured their organizations and…

Organizational evaluation capacity building has been a topic of increasing interest in recent years. However, the actual dimensions of evaluation capacity have not been clearly articulated through empirical research. This study sought to address this gap by identifying the key dimensions of evaluation capacity in Canadian federal government…

This paper draws on the first, completed phase of a research project on inspection as governing in three European inspection systems. The data presented here draw attention to the rather under-researched associational activities of European inspectorates and their developing practices of policy learning and exchange, and highlight their…

This article addresses global postsecondary ranking systems by using critical-theoretical perspectives on power. This research suggests rankings are at once a useful lens for studying power in higher education and an important instrument for the exercise of power in service of dominant norms in global higher education. (Contains 1 table and 1…

With the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" ("NCLB"), signed into law on January 8, 2002, schools nationwide have been challenged to improve student achievement. Several middle and junior high schools in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania were identified as being in need of Corrective Action in 2006 based upon data from the…