Research And Education Reform

The Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) in the U.S. Department of Education has a mandate for expanding knowledge of teaching and learning and for improving education in this country. This book focuses on how OERI can better fulfill that mission in light of what is known about why prior education reforms have often failed, what is needed to enhance the effectiveness of such efforts, and what education research and development can contribute to better schools. The history, mission, governance, organization, functions, operations, and budgets of OERI are analyzed. Recommendations are made for restructuring OERI, expanding funding, involving scholars from many fields, and engaging teachers and school principals in improvement efforts.

This book reviews the state of education in Myanmar over the past decade and a half as the country is undergoing profound albeit incomplete transformation. Set within the context of Myanmar’s peace process and the wider reforms since 2012, Marie Lall’s analysis of education policy and practice serves as a case study on how the reform programme has evolved. Drawing on over 15 years of field research carried out across Myanmar, the book offers a cohesive inquiry into government and non-government education sectors, the reform process, and how the transition has played out across schools, universities and wider society. It casts scrutiny on changes in basic education, the alternative monastic education, higher education and teacher education, and engages with issues of ethnic education and the debate on the role of language and the local curriculum as part of the peace process. In so doing, it gives voice to those most affected by the changing landscape of Myanmar’s education and wider reform process: the students and parents of all ethnic backgrounds, teachers, teacher trainees and university staff that are rarely heard.

Between the State and the Schoolhouse examines the Common Core State Standards from the initiative's promising beginnings to its disappointing outcomes. Situating the standards in the long history of state and federal efforts to shape education, the book describes a series of critical lessons that highlight the political and structural challenges of large-scale, top-down reforms. Education policy expert Tom Loveless argues that there are too many layers between the state and the classroom for a national standards approach to be effective. Specifically, he emphasizes the significant gap between states' roles in designing education policy and teachers' roles as implementers of policy. In addition, he asserts that top-down policies are unpredictable, subject to political and ideological pressures, and vulnerable to the pendulum effect as new reforms emerge in response to previous ones. One of the most ambitious education reforms of the past century, the Common Core aimed to raise student success, prepare larger numbers of students for both college and careers, and close achievement gaps. Yet, as Loveless documents, a decade later there remains a lack of significant positive impact on student learning. Between the State and the Schoolhouse marks an important contribution to the debate over the standards movement and the role of federal and state governments in education reform.

A collection and analysis of eight education reform case studies, capturing successes, failures and choices faced in implementation.

This book discusses the recent assessment movements in the eastern and western worlds with particular focuses on the policies, implementation, and impacts of assessment reform on education. A new perspective of assessment sees assessment as a means to enhance learning. This book examines the tensions, challenges and outcomes (intended and unintended) of assessment reform arising at the interface of policy and implementation, and implementation and student learning. The book reviews the experiences insights gained from research, and identifies the facilitators and hindrances to effective change. It reflects current thinking of assessment and provides the readers with ample background information of assessment development in many countries including USA, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Education systems and textbooks in selected countries of the Middle East are increasingly the subject of debate. This volume presents and analyzes the major trends as well as the scope and the limits of education reform initiatives undertaken in recent years. In curricula and teaching materials, representations of the “Self” and the “Other” offer insights into the contemporary dynamics of identity politics. By building on a network of scholars working in various countries in the Middle East itself, this book aims to contribute to the evolution of a field of comparative education studies in this region.

This collection presents new investigations into the role of heritage languages and the correlation between culture and language from a pedagogic and cosmopolitical point of view.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused institutions to rethink traditional practices and consider new ways of learning and approaching students, faculty, and staff. Though not always embraced in the past, colleges and universities turned to online education in order to keep students enrolled as the health of students had to be prioritized. For institutions that may not have had health services on campus, such as community colleges, these needs called for more planning and options for referral of services. Education Reform in the Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic educates individuals regarding the impact of COVID-19 on higher education institutions internally and externally and considers the lessons learned as well as what could be next. The book also presents solutions to the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic wrought on universities and colleges and looks toward using those solutions for future applications. Covering a range of topics such as student engagement, enrollment, and virtual spaces, it is an ideal resource for administrators, educators, mental health professionals, faculty, universities, and students.