The history of higher education has revealed all the forms of structural change associated with growth. The following focuses on a special form that involves growth, specialization, and proliferation, and applies mainly but not exclusively to universities. In search for a descriptive term, I have settled on the concept of "structural…

This report provides a portrait of educational attainment in the United States based on data collected in the 2009 American Community Survey (ACS) and the 2005-2009 ACS 5-year estimates. It also uses data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey (CPS) collected in 2009 and earlier, as well as monthly…

This paper presents the results of an investigation into the attitudes of School Administrators to the relationship between formal school registration and school improvement. It concerns a mandatory inspection-type registration process for all Non-Government Schools in Western Australia. Part of the aim of this registration process was to help…

The extent to which the goals and contents of (compulsory) education should to be regulated has been a complicated balancing act in the Netherlands. Against a background of a long-standing statutory tradition of freedom of education, governmental decisions about "what knowledge is of most worth" have been delicate. The purpose of the…

Distance education has emerged out of social compulsion, the dynamics of change and new cultures. It was the failure of traditional systems to be able to meet the demand in countries, where the resources available for tertiary education are limited, which basically gave birth to the new trend of education known as open and distance education. This…

The purpose of this research was to determine how teachers and administrators in a successful North Carolina district perceived the purpose and value of a school improvement plan (SIP) and the planning process. The SIP is the accepted best practice for school-wide improvement, and the perceptions of the purpose and value of the process…

Many European countries have delayed the time when school tracking starts in order to pursue equality of opportunity. What are the efficiency costs of de-tracking secondary schools? This paper builds a stylized model of the optimal time of tracking, estimates the relevant parameters using micro data for 11 European countries and computes the…

While the literature on professional learning communities (PLCs) has proliferated, much of it derived from and contextualised in Anglo-American settings, the concept and practice of PLCs in Asian contexts of strong hierarchies have largely been ignored. Based on literature and documentary analysis, this paper investigates the systemic…

Purpose: This article outlines the development of extension as a discipline in Australia, its organization, and the ideological changes that have occurred from the second half of the nineteenth century through to the present. Design/Methodology/Approach: It considers the evolution of extension across the different states of Australia from a…

This article explores the role of state education agencies in three states that have embarked on ambitious kindergarten through Grade 12 (K-12) virtual learning initiatives: Alabama, Florida, and Idaho. Subject to a rapidly changing environment influenced by factors beyond the jurisdiction of many state departments of education, the world of…

This essay critically examines the relevance of Cornel West's (1989) conception of "prophetic pragmatism" as a theoretical framework for educational development in post-conflict settings torn by religious, socioeconomic, and cultural tensions. It examines the concept through the conflict and post-conflict experiences of the Indonesian…

The author shares a story told to him by a colleague more than thirty years ago. The dean of a midsized American university was explaining the path to tenure to a roomful of newly appointed assistant professors. "We know you boys can all "field"," he declared. "Now we want to see if you can hit." A lot has changed over the intervening decades. If…

Since the late 1980s sex education has been widely promoted in the PRC, but this is not the first time in China's modern history that attempts to develop sex education have been made. The present essay traces the development of sex education debates over the last century, identifying the historical, political and social contexts in which they…

In marginal regions of Mexico, grass roots educational innovations have often provided what the official system has not: basic education that responds to the cultural particularities of such populations while satisfying the national curriculum's requirements. The way these have developed, the article argues, offers valuable lessons for a new…

Thanks to China's reform and opening to the world over the last three decades, the conventional normal education system, which is characterized by independent orientation, is now being challenged by a comprehensive and multi-faceted modern teacher education system that has taken shape. It is high time that we attached great significance to the…