Hear from evaluation practitioners throughout Latin America. In this region program evaluation is an emergent practice, one that is shaped by distinctive geopolitical and social contexts and has its own intellectual biography. Through a selection of writings and cases this issue provides a window on program evaluation in this region. The articles indicate a range of experiences and concerns that respond to the countries’ unique histories and cultures. Articles by evaluators from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Peru illustrate new directions and are grouped around the following themes: Strategic use of evaluation in public policies and active citizenship Innovative project evaluation examples Evaluation capacity building and institutionalization. The widespread development of participatory or actor-oriented approaches, based on qualitative methodologies that have a particularly Latin American stamp, are emphasized in this issue. This is the 134th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation, an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.
Understanding what and how students learn has emerged as a salient issue in Latin America, a region where the majority of children now have access to schools but few students learn the skills they need to succeed. 'Raising Student Learning in Latin America' examines recent advances in our understanding of the policies and programs that affect student learning and provides policy makers with effective options. This volume relies on indicators from national and international assessments of subject matter knowledge plus intermediate learning indicators, such as dropout and completion rates. The first part focuses on the central role of student learning in education. The second part reviews the evidence on factors and policies that affect student learning. The final part addresses policy optons on education quality assurance.
What are students learning? Throughout the world, governments striving to improve educational quality are turning to national assessments to provide this much-needed information in key curriculum areas. The capacity for carrying out national assessments has grown remarkably in recent years, but it has not been matched by widespread use of their findings. This book seeks to maximize an appreciation for the value of such data and to assist countries in exploiting the knowledge that national assessments yield. Using the Results of a National Assessment of Educational Achievement identifies the main factors affecting the use of national assessment findings. These include the political context in which an assessment is carried out, the nature of the assessment (census based or sample based), the assignment of accountability for the results, and the quality of assessment instruments. The book describes the type of information that the main report of a national assessment should contain, as well as other means of communicating findings to technical and nontechnical audiences. It outlines general considerations in translating national assessment results into policy and action, and examines specific procedures for using the data in policy making, educational management, teaching, and promoting public awareness. The topics addressed in this volume should be of interest to policy makers, educators, researchers, and development practitioners.
Latin America suffered a profound state crisis in the 1980s, which prompted not only the wave of macroeconomic and deregulation reforms known as the Washington Consensus, but also a wide variety of institutional or 'second generation' reforms. 'The State of State Reform in Latin America' reviews and assesses the outcomes of these less studied institutional reforms. This book examines four major areas of institutional reform: a. political institutions and the state organization; b. fiscal institutions, such as budget, tax and decentralization institutions; c. public institutions in charge of sectoral economic policies (financial, industrial, and infrastructure); and d. social sector institutions (pensions, social protection, and education). In each of these areas, the authors summarize the reform objectives, describe and measure their scope, assess the main outcomes, and identify the obstacles for implementation, especially those of an institutional nature.
Educational practices have rapidly changed in the last few decades, especially in how exchanges of information and learning are delivered and processed. Yet, while the field of international comparative studies has grown, there has not been an extensive study on the relationship between educational practices, students, and how practitioners are prepared and trained. This handbook explores international educational practices and behaviours through new research and a review of existing research, with chapters spread across six parts: Part I: Introduction to Research Practices in Comparative Studies of Education Part II: Research Methods Part III: Policy Transfer Research through International Comparisons Part IV: Use of Student time in Formal and Informal Settings Part V: School Practices from Early Childhood through Secondary School Part VI: Conclusion - Lessons from Large Scale Studies
L'évaluation efficace de la performance des systèmes éducatifs est un élément essentiel de la mise au point de politiques visant à optimiser le développement du capital humain dans le monde. Les cinq manuels de la collection Évaluations nationales des acquis scolaires introduisent les concepts clés des évaluations nationales du niveau de performances des élèves, dont les questions politiques à traiter dans la conception et la mise en 'uvre des évaluations ou le développement d'un test, la conception d'un questionnaire, l'échantillonnage, l'organisation et la mise en 'uvre de la collecte de données, le nettoyage et l'analyse statistique des données, la rédaction de rapports et l'exploitation des résultats pour améliorer la qualité de l'éducation. Qu'apprennent les élèves ' Dans le monde, les gouvernements qui aspirent à améliorer la qualité de l'éducation se tournent vers les évaluations nationales pour obtenir ces informations si précieuses dans les domaines clés des programmes de cours. La capacité à mener des évaluations nationales s'est remarquablement renforcée ces dernières années, mais l'utilisation généralisée des conclusions n'a pas suivi. Ce manuel vise à démontrer la valeur essentielle de ces données et à assister les pays dans l'exploitation des connaissances issues des évaluations nationales. Communiquer et utiliser les résultats d'une évaluation nationale des acquis scolaires recense les principaux facteurs qui affectent l'utilisation des constatations des évaluations nationales. Ceux-ci comprennent le contexte politique dans lequel une évaluation est menée, la nature de l'évaluation (sur la base d'un recensement ou d'un échantillon), les responsabilités de chacun vis-à -vis des résultats, et la qualité des instruments d'évaluation. Le manuel décrit le type d'informations requises dans le rapport principal d'une évaluation nationale, et d'autres moyens de communiquer les conclusions aux publics techniques et non techniques. Il énonce les principes généraux à suivre pour traduire les résultats des évaluations nationales dans le cadre de politiques et de mesures, et examine les procédures spécifiques d'utilisation des données dans l'élaboration de politiques, la gestion de l'éducation, l'enseignement et la promotion de la sensibilisation du public. Les thèmes traités dans ce volume sont de nature à intéresser les responsables des politiques, les équipes pédagogiques, les chercheurs et les professionnels du développement.
Inequality is a marked and persistent feature of education systems, both in the developed and the developing worlds. Major gaps in opportunity and in outcomes have become more critical than in the past, thanks to the knowledge economy and globalization. The pursuit of equity as a goal of public policy is examined in this book through a series of national case-studies. The book covers many different global contexts from the wealthiest to some of the poorest nations on earth. It therefore offers a broad range of different theoretical and methodological approaches, and brings together extensive international experience in equity policy.
In 2000 at the World Education Forum, over 160 countries committed themselves to six Education for All (EFA) goals to expand basic educational opportunities for all by 2015, as part of the international community's strategy to reduce global poverty levels. This report focuses on the factors which determine the quality of education, including financial and material resources for schools, staffing resources and training, core subjects and leadership issues. It includes case studies from a number of countries to show how both rich and developing nations are addressing the quality issue, and finds that progress so far is insufficient in several regions of the world to meet the EFA targets. The report goes on to map out key policies for improving the teaching and learning process, especially in low-income countries.
Desde una perspectiva general, la acreditación de programas educativos representa un mecanismo para orientar las tareas educativas de la formación profesional, con prácticas y resultados que se reconocen desde un horizonte nacional e internacional, convirtiéndose en la estrategia que han asumido las universidades e instituciones de educación superior, para impulsar el mejoramiento permanente y el logro de calidad educativa. Algunas preguntas que orientan el debate sobre el tema de la acreditación de programas educativos son, entre otras: ¿qué beneficios estructurales han tenido los procesos de acreditación de programas educativos en el sistema de educación superior en América Latina y España?, ¿cuáles son los cambios de carácter académico que en los últimos 15 años se han generado en el sistema de educación superior, en comparación con los sistemas de países con los que tenemos acuerdos bilaterales?, ¿los indicadores y estándares de calidad reportados por el Consejo para la Acreditación de la Educación Superior, qué significado tienen en el contexto nacional e internacional?, ¿cuál es la visión de la acreditación y certificación de la educación superior en España y América Latina? En esta obra de dos volúmenes se rescatan algunas respuestas a las interrogantes planteadas, mediante la recuperación de experiencias institucionales y productos de investigación sobre el tema. Finalmente, se caracterizan y explican las tensiones, desencuentros, conflictos y resultados de la acreditación de la educación superior y de la gestión de la calidad de los programas educativos en la Región Iberoamericana.
