ART ON THE PRAIRIE

Art education shouldn't focus exclusively on "art making," says a group dedicated to expanding the discipline to include a healthy dose of art history, criticism, and aesthetics.

(With Helen F. Ladd. Published in Education Week, May 17, 2000)

Decentralized management. Parental choice. Competition among schools. These are concepts that a wide variety of school reformers, including proponents of charter schools and vouchers, believe can bring about significant improvement in the quality of American schools.

Promising though they may be, these ideas are essentially untested in the United States. The first charter schools did not appear until 1993, and voucher programs are small and even newer. What we need is evidence from an entire school system that has applied these concepts over an extended period of time.

Fortunately, such evidence exists. It comes from New Zealand-a nation whose population is the same as South Carolina's and whose national ministry of education operates as the functional equivalent of a state education department in this country. For the last decade, New Zealand has functioned as a laboratory for the key ideas underlying governance-based school reform movements in the United States.

USING BOTH HANDS: WOMEN AND EDUCATION IN CAMBODIA

"Cambodia has more women than men, and we must educate our girls as well as our boys. We have two hands, and if one hand is weak we can do nothing. The two hands must be strong. We must use both hands." These are the words of Neth Din, a 77-year-old resident of Spean Dek Village in Kandal Province who is raising his three granddaughters. There is a wealth of research on the role of women in education in developing countries and the critical strategic role that such education plays in overall development. Educating girls is arguably the single most important investment that a country can make. As Ruby Manikan, an Indian church leader observed, "If you educate a man, you educate a person; but if you educate a woman, you educate a family." This study, carried out with three members of the Khmer Women's Voice Center in Phnom Penh, is the first ro focus on the nature and causes of Cambodia's gender gap and to suggest ways of remedying it. Neth Din was speaking as a citizen of Cambodia, but his words could apply to most developing nations.

(Available at Asian Development Bank)

DECENTRALIZATION OF EDUCATION

Decentralization of education is a global phenomenon, one that has manifold roots and takes many different forms in different countries. It is also a highly political process that by definition involves substantial shifts - or at least the perception of shifts - in power. This study, part of a larger effort by the Education Group of the World Bank's Human Development Department to understand the decentralization of education systems, examines the ways in which decentralization developed and the impact that it had in nine countries. It shows, among other things, that school decentralization schemes often succeed or fail for reasons that have more to do with politics than with technical design.

(Available at The World Bank Group)

EDUCATION FOR ALL: A GLOBAL COMMITMENT

A Report of the United States to the International Consultative Forum on Education for All by Edward B. Fiske and Barbara O'Grady, 112 pages.

In 1990, the World Conference on Education for All was convened in Jomtien, Thailand, to address concerns about the inadequate provision of basic education, especially in developing countries. The conference was attended by 1,500 participants from 155 countries and included representatives from 160 intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. Conference participants adopted a World Declaration on Education for All and approved a Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs. This document constitutes the U.S. EFA 2000 Assessment report. The report was organized and prepared by AED with the oversight of an eight-member Commission made up of representatives of both government and private organizations in the United States. While AED prepared the report at the request of the EFA Secretariat, final responsibility for the perspectives and information contained in the report is that of AED. The report was carried out in consultation with numerous experts in the field, including representatives of non-governmental organizations, education associations, and representatives of various U.S agencies.

BASIC EDUCATION: BUILDING BLOCKS FOR GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT

Two out of three adults in the poorest developing countries lack basic literacy and numeracy skills - and thus the skills to become productive workers, learn about good health and family planning, protect the environment and support democratic forms of government. This publication makes the case for a renewed commitment by the United States to invest in basic education. It brings together data that show the powerful and positive relationship between investments in basic education and outcomes in economic productivity, health and social well-being, the growth of democracy and conservation of the environment. In newly developing societies, each additional year of schooling beyond grade three or four can lead to up to 20 percent higher wages, up to 10 percent fewer births and up to 10 percent fewer child deaths.

Education has a profound impact on economic development. For example, research has shown that in modernizing societies, farmers with just four years of education are 9 percent more productive than farmers with no education, and literacy gains of 20 to 30 percent can boost a country's gross domestic product by 8 to 16 percent. The yield from investments in basic education extends well beyond economics. Research shows that when citizens of developing countries receive basic education a foundation is laid for the development of democratic institutions and families have fewer children. Moreover, citizens understand and support programs to protect the environment, and infants and children eat more nutritious foods, are treated more effectively for childhood diseases and therefore survive at higher rates.

(Available at the Academy for Educational Development)

INVESTING IN CHANGE: TRAINING FOR FREE-MARKET ECONOMIES AND DEMOCRACIES IN THE NEW INDEPENDENT STATES OF THE FORMER SOVIET UNION

(Available at the Academy for Educational Development)