Since 2001, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) has been conducting, in cycles of five years, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). The PIRLS program encompasses trend studies designed to monitor progress in reading achievement in an internationally comparative context. PIRLS 2001 and PIRLS 2006 both assessed primary school students in their fourth year of schooling (Grade 4 in the majority of countries). Progress in Reading Literacy in National and International Context is the second book to explore the influence of findings from the PIRLS surveys on different education systems. It presents a compilation of insights from 12 of the 35 countries that participated in PIRLS 2006. These insights relate to the impact of PIRLS on the systemic, governmental, administrative, and school-level aspects of the education systems featured and exemplify how PIRLS has influenced research initiatives, policy development, and national capacity-building. The primary aim of this book and its predecessor (Progress in Reading Literacy: The Impact of PIRLS 2001 in 13 Countries, edited by Knut Schwippert and published in 2007) has been to explore the opportunities that PIRLS’ findings hold for the development of education systems. Five of the 12 countries participating in the current impact of PIRLS project contributed to the 2001 project. For these countries, the current book provided opportunity to view, from a longitudinal perspective, the transformative processes initiated in response to the findings of both surveys. The book thus provides in-depth information on the various aspects of the national education systems represented herein that have originated, been restructured, or otherwise been modified as a direct or an indirect consequence of the results of the 2001 and 2006 PIRLS surveys. The book also gives a brief overview of the design, implementation, and main international findings of PIRLS 2001 and 2006. These introductory chapters are followed by country chapters, each of which is written by authors with unique insider perspectives gained from their work in their home institutions within their national contexts. Findings from these chapters are assembled in a comparative summary.

This book offers a range of perspectives and insights from around the world on the teaching and learning of listening, speaking, reading and writing. It brings together contributors from across six continents, who analyse a wide range of teaching and learning contexts, including primary, secondary, tertiary, private, and adult ESL/EFL classes. In doing so, they provide locally relevant accounts that nonetheless resonate with other contexts and wider concerns. This informative and practical edited collection will appeal to students and scholars who are interested in the four building blocks of language learning, as well as language education and teacher education.

Using data from the 1991 IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) Reading Literacy Study, a study compared United States fourth- and ninth-grade students to students in 32 other countries; examined relationships between reading comprehension and aspects of family, schooling, and community; and investigated the nature of reading instruction in American classrooms. National samples of classes at the grade level containing the most 9-year-olds and 14-year-olds were used. A "world average" was constructed of the 18 participating nations that are also members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Results indicated that (1) American fourth graders outperformed students from all other countries except Finland; (2) American ninth graders' performance was closely grouped with that of students from 15 other nations; (3) in the United States, White students read better than Black and Hispanic students; (4) most groups of American students outperformed the OECD average; (5) students whose parents did not finish high school read at about the same level as the OECD average at fourth grade, but fell below the average in the ninth grade; (6) when differences in wealth, race/ethnicity, level of parental education, and other related attributes were taken into account, children from one-parent mother-only families did as well as children from two-parent families; (7) parents' educational attainment influenced reading comprehension over and above other aspects of family background; (8) what teachers said they believed about reading instruction differed markedly from what they actually did and had students do. (Contains 70 references, 43 notes, 4 exhibits, 3 tables, and 29 figures of data.) (RS)

The chapters in this volume outline and discuss examples of teacher educators in diverse global contexts who have provided successful self-initiated innovations for their teacher learners. The collection suggests that a way forward for second language teacher preparation programs is through 'reflective practice as innovation'.

A study of the reading comprehension of 4th and 9th grade students in the U.S. that goes beyond simple comparisons of national achievement levels. The reader can place the U.S. in an international perspective, compare the performance of the U.S. population with the performance of children in 32 other nations, and thus, evaluate our students against a world standard. It looks at the reading comprehension skill of 4th graders; the variation in these skills across various sub- populations of students; and the explanation for these variations according to what families, teachers, and schools do and provide. Charts and tables.

Articles by various authors ; Vol. 1 contains edited papers presented at a conference held in Atlanta in Oct. 1996.

This volume develops a theoretical and critical foundation for understanding "maladministration"—the phenomena of harmful administrative and organisational behaviours in educational systems. Chapter authors provide theoretical and practice-based perspectives across international contexts regarding common destructive practices that occur in educational organisations, such as negligence and mistreatment of people, professional dishonesty, fraud and embezzlement, abuse of power, and corrupt organisational cultures. International Perspectives on Maladministration in Education shines a light on this complex topic by examining various practices at individual, group, organisational, and system levels; the contexts and influences that give rise to them; and potential remedies to ensure more accountable, just, and safe institutions.

Mathematics plays an important role in today’s world and is used in daily life more than is often appreciated. Mathematical literacy denotes the competence to deal with the mathematical issues of life in modern society. The underlying purpose of this book is to support the development of rich understandings and practices of how an education for mathematical literacy can be realised. The collected works, emerging from several educational systems, offer a fresh perspective on mathematical literacy and the chapters include practical examples that teachers, pre-service teachers, and teacher educators might adapt to their own needs.

“What is important for citizens to know and be able to do?” The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) seeks to answer that question through the most comprehensive and rigorous international assessment of student knowledge and skills.

Critical Education in International Perspective presents new perspectives on critical education from Latin America, Southern Europe and Africa. While recognising the valuable work in critical education emerging from North America and the Northern hemisphere, testimony to Paulo Freire's influence there, this book sheds light on parts of the world that are not given prominence. The book highlights the complementary work of Lorenzo Milani, Amilcar Cabral, exponents of Italian feminism, Ada Gobetti, the Landless Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil, Antonio Gramsci, Gabriela Mistral and Julius Nyerere. It also focuses on a range of struggles such as education in the context of landlessness, independence, renewal and cognitive justice, social creation and against neoliberalism and decolonization.