Book Description

Since the early 1980s, policymakers, practitioners, and researchers in member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) have shown unprecedented interest in the setting and evaluating of educational standards and in improving assessment procedures. This book is the outcome of a study undertaken by the OECD in 1994 at the request of the Government of the United States. A conference held in Paris in December 1993 launched the study; experts from 10 OECD countries were then commissioned to write case-study reports, which were presented at a seminar in Paris in October 1994. The study was carried out under the auspices of the Center for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) and the Education Committee. The book contains an overview by John Lowe, followed by the 10 case studies from Australia, Canada (Ontario), England and Wales, France, Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia), Ireland, Japan, Spain, Sweden, and the United States. A synthesis offers a functional model of reform and considers the ways in which the United States and other governments could profit from the case studies. A total of 15 tables and 24 figures are included. (LMI)