In October and November of 1990, Ministers of Education from Commonwealth nations attended a conference in Barbados. The theme of the conference was improving the quality of basic education. Before the conference, the Commonwealth Secretariat prepared an issues paper that served as a background document for the conference. The issues paper comprises the first part of this publication. Issues discussed include: (1) quality in education; (2) the problem of defining and measuring quality in basic education; (3) educational policies relating to teacher training, curriculum, student assessment, and the organization of educational systems; and (4) school improvement. After the conference, papers submitted by 48 of the participating countries were summarized in an overview document. This document, which comprises the second part of this publication, discusses national experiences in improving educational quality, and international cooperative efforts. The national experiences concern: (1) the structure and organization of educational systems; (2) curriculum, learning materials, and assessment; (3) pre-service teacher education, in- service teacher training and teacher support; (4) efficiency and decentralization of management, and the process of improving administrative supervision; (5) the role of education in communities; and (6) issues of finances and resources. (BC)