Evaluations of the appropriate level of investment in schooling have typically focused on market outcomes, but in this chapter the focus is on nonmarket effects, which add to the returns to schooling and must be considered in evaluating the optimum level of public-sector investment in education. A model is presented to estimate these returns. (SLD)

Some benefits of education are realized by society in general. The focus in this article is on three of these external, or spillover, benefits of parental educational attainment with an intergenerational dimension: effect on fertility, effect on the quality of parental investments in children, and altered costs of educating children to a given…

Studying the relationship between educational attainment and earnings inequality in eight nations using the Luxembourg Income Study database supports the view that differences in labor market institutions are important determinants of earnings inequality. Inequality is less associated with educational attainment than with differential rewards from…

The National Income and Product Accounts provided by the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis and similar accounts in other nations in accord with the System of National Accounts, useful for many types of economic analysis, should be revised to cover investment in education and the production and consumption of education services. (SLD)

The eight chapters of this theme issue describe studies of learning environments conducted in a variety of conceptual and methodological perspectives by researchers in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands. Studies reflect perspectives on conceptualizations of learning environments that range from objectivist to more…

A look at the history of intelligence testing suggests that those most closely allied with intelligence testing were often least able to see the larger issues. Input is needed from those who have examined broader currents in the history and sociology of ideas. New ideas must be cultivated to avoid redundancy in the field. (SLD)

Achievement testing in the next century is going to be very different. Computer technology is going to play a major role in test construction, test administration, scoring, and score reporting. New formats will become possible that incorporate visual and audio components and that permit adaption of tests to individual ability levels. (SLD)

In the United States, large-scale assessment is beginning to be used to promote educational system accountability and improvement. Widespread dissatisfaction with student outcomes and public schooling is fueling the search for alternative assessments as a part of educational reform. (SLD)

Social changes will lead to changes in educational assessment, which will become more important as part of the learning process, focus more on mastery of skills, and feature different approaches and forms of educational technology. Assessment can be used to change educational systems to develop students who are capable of learning how to learn.…

This issue presents examinations of educational testing, large-scale alternative assessment, small-scale alternative assessment, and educational measurement. These discussions go beyond technical issues to provide a conceptual perspective and a view of underlying histories, theories, applications, and the uncertainties associated with these…

The six articles of this theme issue relate the history of empirical research in education to its sociohistorical background, examining the proposition that the rise of empirical research in education was linked to complex factors such as the rise of positivism in the 19th century or the institutional growth of an educational market. (SLD)

This study examines 103 meta-analyses related to educational achievement published over 10 years to produce a meta-synthesis. Various characteristics of the meta-analyses are summarized to produce a methodological profile of research, and effect sizes are synthesized to assess an educational productivity model. (SLD)

To enhance the study of abstract knowledge and to make it a central concern in the study of cognition, and to explore the nature of abstractions and the function of abstraction, the seven chapters in this special issue formulate researchable hypotheses, propose working hypotheses, identify major phenomena, and outline possible educational…

Data from a national sample of 9,000 young people in Sweden show that about one-fifth lack an upper secondary education by age 20. Although characterized by low and declining school achievement and poor self-esteem, most do not experience real unemployment, and enter the regular labor market at age 20. (SLD)

The formation of educational preferences was analyzed using log-linear modeling and data from a survey of nearly 4,000 applicants for higher education in Finland in the policy context of new vocational-higher education institutions. High status orientation was the main factor determining the choice of university sector. (SLD)