‘Freer’ Forms of Organization and Financing and the Effects of Inequality in Latin American Educational Systems: two countries in comparison

The introduction of ‘freer’ forms of organization and financing into the Latin American educational systems about 20 years ago parallels similar developments in the contexts of neo‐liberal policies in the USA, Great Britain and, more recently, in Eastern Europe. This article will highlight the effects of ‘school autonomy’, decentralization, and privatization in the Latin American educational systems. In so doing, I will focus on the analysis of educational policy development in Chile and Argentina, based in part on my own research results. The results demonstrate that ‘freer’ forms of organization and financing have not proven to be positive for the progressive distribution of education, democratization and the consideration of diversity—and also not for the (difficult to measure) categories of ‘quality’ and ‘efficiency’ of education. These findings contribute to question whether the neo‐liberal forms of organization and financing of educational systems in Latin America are important factors in the realization of these goals.     

Financial reform of basic education in China

Since the early 1980s, the financing of basic education in China has moved rapidly away from a centralized system with a narrow revenue base to a decentralized system with a diversified revenue base. This paper provides a critical assessment of the impacts of the financial reform of basic education in China, focusing on issues of structure, resource mobilization, inequality, and inefficiency. It concludes that while the reform has been successful in achieving the objectives of structural change and mobilization of additional government and non-government resources, the current system is marked by notable weaknesses in terms of glaring inequalities and significant inefficiencies. Further improvements of the financing system require interventions both inside and outside the education sector.     

An SEM Approach for the Evaluation of Intervention Effects Using Pre-Post-Post Designs

A directly applicable latent variable modeling procedure for classical item analysis is outlined. The method allows one to point and interval estimate item difficulty, item correlations, and item-total correlations for composites consisting of categorical items. The approach is readily employed in empirical research and as a by-product permits examining the latent structure of tentative versions of multiple-component measuring instruments. The discussed procedure is straightforwardly utilized with the increasingly popular latent variable modeling software Mplus, and is illustrated on a numerical example.     

Planning Instruction to Meet the Intent of the Next Generation Science Standards

The National Research Council’s Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States in Next Generation Science Standards: For states, by states. The National Academies Press, Washington, 2013) move teaching away from covering many isolated facts to a focus on a smaller number of disciplinary core ideas (DCIs) and crosscutting concepts that can be used to explain phenomena and solve problems by engaging in science and engineering practices. The NGSS present standards as knowledge-in-use by expressing them as performance expectations (PEs) that integrate all three dimensions from the Framework for K-12 Science Education. This integration of core ideas, practices, and crosscutting concepts is referred to as three-dimensional learning (NRC in Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. The National Academies Press, Washington, 2014). PEs state what students can be assessed on at the end of grade level for K-5 and at the end of grade band for 6–8 and 9–12. PEs do not specify how instruction should be developed nor do they serve as objectives for individual lessons. To support students in developing proficiency in the PEs, the elements of the DCIs will need to be blended with various practices and crosscutting concepts. In this paper, we examine how to design instruction to support students in meeting a cluster or “bundle” of PEs and how to blend the three dimensions to develop lesson level PEs that can be used for guiding instruction. We provide a ten-step process and an example of that process that teachers and curriculum designers can use to design lessons that meet the intent of the Next Generation of Science Standards.     

Youth Protests against Education Privatization Reforms in Post-Soviet States

This article examines youth protests against education privatization in the post-Soviet countries of Latvia, Russia, and Ukraine. Drawing on a sample of online sources and scholarly articles, this study uses critical discourse analysis and visual methodologies to examine why and how post-Soviet university students have organized to protest against education privatization reforms. The study also critically analyzes visual and discursive representations of youth protests by government officials, mass media, and academia in the post-Soviet education space. The study reveals that while student protesters are deeply concerned about the future of public education, the messages (and images) generated by youth protesters are reappropriated in various ways by mass media, often beyond the control of protesters themselves.     

Evaluation of adult literacy education in the United States: A review of methodological issues

This is a critical review of methodological issues in the evaluation of adult literacy education programs in the United States. It addresses the key research questions: What are the appropriate methods for evaluating these programs under given circumstances. It identifies 15 evaluation studies that are representative of a range of adult literacy contexts at various evaluation levels; and reviews each study regarding evaluation designs, data sources, learner assessment tools, and indicators of program effectiveness. It summarizes methodological lessons learned regarding the evaluation of adult literacy education and identifies areas for further research.     

Developing Multicultural Competence Using the Structured Peer Group Supervision Model

Interest in the role of supervision in counselor training has increased concurrent with the interest in effective strategies for developing multicultural counseling competency. L. D. Borders (1991) proposed a model of group supervision appropriate for use with supervisees of differing skill levels; however, the model does not overtly provide for supervisees' development of multicultural awareness and skills. This article presents a format of peer group multicultural supervision in which supervisees work to increase their multicultural competencies while engaging in helper roles important for working with culturally diverse clients.     

Multiculturalism,Diversity, and Social Advocacy: A 17‐Year Content Analysis of Counselor Education and Supervision

The authors summarized (a) data regarding multiculturalism, diversity, and social advocacy represented in Counselor Education and Supervision (CES) over a 17‐year period (1989–2005, Volumes 28–45); (b) type of articles (i.e., research vs. theory) represented; (c) research methodology and applications used; (d) journal editor and related terms; (e) primary contributors and related institutional affiliations; and (f) the breadth and scope of the data regarding key topics represented. Seventy‐eight articles met inclusion criteria. Data indicate the extent to which multiculturalism, diversity, and social advocacy were represented in CES.