The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's indicators project identified 635 educational indicators in 13 categories in 3 blocks: contexts, processes, and results. Analysis of the educational features of 28 high-income countries demonstrates relationships between the three blocks of indicators and suggests that about 50 indicators…

Examines the political dynamics of planning and implementing educational reforms in Greece, with comparisons to France. Argues that, as in France, the state's concern for "compensatory legitimation" provides a better tool than those advanced by sociologists or historians for explaining Greece's many failed educational reforms. Compares strategies…

Survey of 48 multisectoral women-in-development (WID) units in governmental bureaucracies of developing nations indicates that most have educational activities but tend to focus on nonformal education for adult women (literacy, health, vocational education). Their limited contestation of the ideological function of schooling makes these WID units…

A Colombian model of rural elementary education has increased student achievement. Basic characteristics are active learning, structured yet flexible and multifaceted nature, extensive training and support for teachers, and opportunities for meaningful involvement of students, teachers, and community members. A Guatemalan reform based on the model…

Points out that the field of comparative education has lost its comparative focus, and proposes that comparative research refocus on variations among national institutional patterns of education. Examines characteristics of six core patterns developed in Prussia, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, and Russia. Outlines 10…

Examines the postmodern challenge to the representation and practice of comparative and international education. Reviews the literature to identify major positions or arguments in the postmodern debate in comparative education. Maps these positions or knowledge communities as a discursive field of diverse perspectives and draws conclusions about…

Comparative education lacks engagement with central theoretical debates about culture, current in anthropology. Recentered discourse on culture would recognize cultural inquiry's value, particularly for destabilizing taken-for-granted categories and truths. At the same time, comparative education might benefit from deeper critical engagement with…

Nicaragua's decentralization policy shifts management and budget decisions to local school councils. Interviews with teachers, parents, and directors in 12 elementary and secondary schools examined the effects of school context, poverty, and sources of authority on implementation of school autonomy; varying meanings of "autonomy" as seen by…

Explores patterns of recent ideological changes in the content of 12 Russian secondary school textbooks in the social sciences and humanities. Shows that textbook content has shifted from a consistent representation of key dogmas of Marxism-Leninism toward a contradictory combination of the ideological symbols of nationalism, Westernism, and…

A model of the dynamics of educational change links teaching style (on a continuum from didactic to interactive) with basis of authority (from formal to organic). The model is used to analyze educational decentralization in Mexico, examining four strategies: school "technical councils," inservice teacher education about reform implementation, a…

Draws on an ethnographic study of Japanese middle schools and other data to analyze the Japanese educational concepts of "lifestyle guidance" and "group living," which promote students' egalitarian participation in the life of the school. Examines Japanese ideals of community and participation as the basis of an alternative form of democracy. (SV)

Examines the role of transnational institutions (particularly the European Commission and committees of the European Parliament) in facilitating the mutual recognition of professional qualifications among members of the European Economic Community (EEC). Discusses relevant EEC directives, varying compliance among nations, and six cases of citizen…

Reviews major trends in comparative-education research in the Arab states. Reviews studies categorized by "comparative context" (cross-Arab, state-specific, Arab versus non-Arab) at the system, school, or classroom level. Argues that research has largely neglected the conflictual dynamic between state policies and civil society, focusing instead…

Reviews three books that examine teacher-education reform from an international comparative perspective: "The Crisis in Teacher Education: A European Concern," by Anthony Adams and Witold Tulasiewicz; "Global Perspectives on Teacher Education," edited by Colin Brock; and "Learning and Teaching in an International Context: Research, Theory and…

Bibliography of comparative and international education includes over 600 citations representing 55 journals published 1997-1998. Categories include the following: adult, agrarian, vocational, literacy, and popular education; curriculum and instruction; educational planning, development, reform, and policy; gender, ethnicity, race, and class;…