¾ Abstracts for Group Sessions ¾

Acedo, Clementina (University of Pittsburgh)

Secondary Education Reform: Global and Regional Trends and Country Case Studies [Panel]

After a general expansion of basic education, developing countries in most regions are facing a political and demographic pressure to expand the access and improve the quality of their secondary education systems. At the same time these governments are revising the main objectives and structure of their secondary and post-basic education in order adjust their systems to the goals of preparing better and productive citizens, improving the transition to the labor market or to higher education and reducing inequality. The panel will present the preliminary findings from a study being undertaken in the context of the USAID-funded “Improving Educational Quality” project. The panel will discuss trends in the types of reforms being undertaken (e.g., organizational restructuring, financing arrangements, curricular change, teacher education) on a global scale as well as within five UNESCO regions: Africa, Arab States, East Asia and the Pacific, (Central/Eastern) Europe, and Latin America. In addition, more in-depth case studies on specific secondary education reforms in five countries (currently being determined) will be described and analyzed comparatively. The case studies will illuminate the groups and contextual dynamics that are involved in shaping whether and how reforms are proposed, adopted, and implemented.

Ahmed, Manzoor (UNICEF and University of Pittsburgh)

Basic Education in South Asia: Challenges of Quality, Equity and Access [Panel]

The South Asian sub-continent, with a fifth of world’s people, has the dubious distinction of being the home of half of world’s illiterates and children deprived of basic education opportunities, as well as almost half of the world’s poor living on less than a dollar a day. In the last three decades, governments in the region pledged a greater effort in basic education and committed larger public resources. In the 1990s, South Asian countries renewed their commitment to “education for all” in the wake of the Jomtien World Conference on Education for All. But progress during the decade has faltered and targets have remained far from being fulfilled - especially in respect of quality of learning and reduction of inequality in opportunities. The Panel, drawing on members’ involvement in South Asia as well as their experience in other parts of the world, will assess where individual countries and the region stand today, critically examine national efforts and international cooperation in the past decade, and will indicate lessons and strategies for meeting the challenges of access, equity and quality in basic education.

Altbach, Philip (Boston College)

Comparative Higher Education: Issues for the 21st Century [Symposium]

This symposium will bring together key experts to discuss central trends in higher education in a comparative perspective. The presenters will deal with issues set forth in a common framework paper co-authored by Philip G. Altbach and Todd Davis. Among the issues highlighted are: Expansion and differentiation, the challenge of higher education and work, technology and higher education, access and accountability, privatization and higher education, globalization and the universities. These are among the central issues facing academic systems worldwide. Each panelist will prepare research based comments focusing on these topics, so that there will be a commonality of issues presented from a broad geographical framework.

Aoki, Aya (The World Bank, HDNED)

Partnering in Adult Basic Education [Symposium]

Adult basic education is indispensable to attaining the goal of Education for All efforts. Reducing adult illiteracy, one of the six major goals endorsed in Jomtien in 1990, is now reemphasized with an expanded vision at the World Education Forum in Dakar in 2000 as ‘Achieving a 50% improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.’

To take up this challenge requires strong commitments and partnerships from both government and civil society. The symposium would seek effective models and processes of government – civil society (NGOs, communities, private sector) partnership in adult basic education, as well as roles of international organizations and NGOs including the World Bank and ActionAid. Such partnerships are central to capacity building and professional development to achieve quality basic education and skills training for adults and out-of-school youth. The background papers would present various forms of government-civil society collaboration. The presenters plan to invite a few more partners to share their experiences and/or comments and critiques at the symposium.

Ardizzone, Leonisa (Teachers College, Columbia University)

Expanding the Conversation: Youth voices- An Affirmative Alternative [Panel]

Taken from the point of view of adolescent Bosnian refugees in New York, Youth Peace builders in New York City and child museum-goers in Jamaica, this panel considers both formal and informal aspects of education systems in developed and developing nations. This panel incorporates the fields of refugee, peace and museum education from a psycho-social perspective. Each panelist will speak to resonance through the views of very different target populations pointing to alternative possibilities for policy and practice. The rationale behind this joint presentation is a shared belief that policy and reform should be informed by the voices of those ultimately affected in order to be just and sustainable. The voices of youth will be brought into the conversation on a local level as it relates to the global.

Baker, David (Pennsylvania State University)

Where are we going? Comparative and International Education in the 21st Century [Panel]

Where is the comparative and international study of education heading in the 21st Century? What are the current theoretical issues, problems, and practices that need be discussed, reviewed, and debated? How have specific sub-fields fared over the past decade? Our discipline appears poised to take a leadership role in policy debates and decisions, as well as comparative scholarship throughout the world, but first we need to examine where we have been and where we need to go. This panel examines specific areas in the field and discusses where they are headed in the future. The participants will investigate topics ranging from: distance education, the role of international organizations on human capital, the validity of cross-national studies of student achievement, education policies in developing countries and a comparative look at curriculum as a tool for promoting educational standards.

Balzer, Harley (Georgetown University)

Global Policies and Regional Alternatives in Russian and Post-Soviet Higher Education [Panel]

This panel will examine the acute crises and attempted reforms in the sphere of higher education in the Russian Federation and the other states of the former Soviet Union from the perspective of their relation to global patterns of higher educational reform. Two papers focus on case studies of reform in Russian higher education. Olga Bain’s presentation focuses on the effects of the attempted imposition of a neo-liberal agenda in Russian higher education, and entails a critical analysis of the attempted imposition of market mechanisms and demand-driven financing. Dmitry Suspitsin’s presentation is a detailed case study of the admissions practices at a Russian pedagogical university from the perspective of organizational theory. Mark Johnson’s presentation will entail a broader perspective on the attempted adoption of global policies such as marketization, privatization, and decentralization in higher education in the non-Russian republics of the former Soviet Union, and will also examine the complex mix of successful reforms in this sector, together with a critical analysis of the serious systemic crises that are degrading higher education in terms of both excellence and equity throughout the former Soviet Union.

Banya, Kingsley (Florida International University)

Sustainability, the Environment and Higher Education [Panel]

Development is based on the premise that certain peoples and societies are less developed than others and that those who are more developed (modern) have the expertise (knowledge) to help the less developed societies achieve modernity. This concept is a linear Western definition of modernity and the rationale for the development enterprise since the 1940’s (Parpart and Marchand, 1995). This definition of development has recently been challenged by scholars using post modern critiques of modernity, Western universalism and dualist/binary thinking. Indeed, some scholars are taking the development debate in a new direction. Recognizing the relationship between language and power, they have questioned the language/discourse of development, particularly the representation of the South/Third World as the impoverished, background ‘other’ in need of salvation from the developed North/First World. This dualist construction, they point out, has reinforced the authority of Northern development agencies and specialists, whether mainstream or alternative, and provided the rationale for development policies and practices that are designed to incorporate the Southern nations into a Northern-dominated world. This approach, they argue, is no longer appropriate in an increasingly complex and interrelated world.

Barcikowski, Elizabeth (The Mitchell Group)

Measuring pupil achievement in the context of diversity: Tools for evaluating impact of school quality improvement programs with an example from Ghana [Panel]

New instructional practices, professional development for teachers and school managers, improved infrastructure and community development in education are of little consequence in achievement is outcome is not positively impacted. However, evaluating impact on pupil achievement is difficult to do, particularly in the context of substantial linguistic and cultural diversity and marked pupil differences in academic and cognitive ability. The panelists will introduce a battery of achievement tests that have been developed to meet these challenges and at the same time sufficiently sensitive to evaluate impact of school quality improvement programs. The instruments assess achievement growth in mathematics, English literacy, and English speaking and listening among Grade 3 to Grade 6 pupils. Each presenter will discuss on e of there instruments that make up the test battery and discuss the qualities of the instrument or administration procedure that have proved to be useful in meeting the challenges of pupil diversity. The discussant will address the importance of focusing on learning change in longitudinal study designs as opposed to static performance in cross sectional designs for evaluating impact of school quality improvement programs in developing countries, particularly in multi-lingual and multi-cultural nations. Preliminary findings from USAID/Ghana’s Quality Improvement in Primary Schools Program will be presented.

Boyle, Helen (Education Development Center, Inc.)

Interactive Radio Instruction: Waves That Resonate [Panel]

In the last several years, Education Development Center, Inc. has expanded its use of interactive radio instruction in many new directions. In this session we present these new applications and discuss the implications of their use for project designers, donors and stakeholders. Specifically, IRI is emerging as an effective and economically viable means of providing teacher training and on-going teacher support in the classroom; as a means of ensuring educational equity, both in terms of gender and rural/urban equity and as a feasible strategy for reaching hard to reach populations (i.e. AIDs orphans, nomads and other out of school groups). Using examples from on going projects, panel members will illustrate how IRI is being applied in the new ways outlined above and what the practical implications (benefits and disadvantages) there are for the use of IRI in these new ways.

Boyle, Helen (Education Development Center, Inc.)

Pursuing quality schooling through synergistic actions in a resource-lean environment: The combination of child-centered classroom practice, standards-based system management, decentralized pedagogical support mechanisms, and evaluation in Guinea. [Panel]

Following an ambitious push in educational expansion in the early 1990’s, Guinea began to reorient its reform efforts mid-decade, to ensure that school quality would also be firmly supported in further system expansion efforts. In this context, the Ministry of Pre-University Education and its partners have launched a number of pedagogical, management, evaluation, and policy initiatives to enhance educational quality. These initiatives have involved a broad mobilization of actors at all levels — region, prefecture, district, school, and community as well as at the center. Observers anticipate that these initiatives (which are taking place with little fiscal decentralization, although with varying degrees of donor support) can ultimately lead to appropriate fiscal devolution as well.

Key challenges ahead for sustainability are clear: (1) galvanizing political will at the highest levels for effective decentralization of authorities and financial resources; (2) establishing responsible financial management capacities and practices at all levels; and (3) consolidating other emerging technical and management capacities at all levels.

Bray, Mark (University of Hong Kong)

Comparative Education in China: The Field and its Evolution [Panel]

The panel will bring together three scholars who will analyze the changing nature of comparative education in China. One will focus on the major parameters of the field in its political context, the second will focus on the contributions of a particular individual, and the third will analyze the contributions and constraints of a particular institution. Comparisons will be made between developments of the field in China and developments in other parts of the world.

Brewster, Andrea (UCLA)

Looking Forward and Looking Back: A Conversation with the Editors of the Comparative Education Review [Panel]

In July 1998, the editorial office of the Comparative Education Review (CER) moved to the University of California, Los Angeles. This roundtable discussion will provide the opportunity for the editor of the CER, John Hawkins, and the associate editors, Val Rust, Nelly Stromquist, and Carlos Alberto Torres, to share their general vision of the journal for the coming years and to reflect on the journal’s time at UCLA so far. It will also be an opportunity for the members of the CIES community to participate in refining this vision and making it more representative of the views of students, scholars, practitioners, and policymakers in the fields of comparative and international education. There will be brief presentations by the editors and audience participation will be strongly encouraged.

Brewster, Andrea (UCLA)

Conversations with Journal Editors, Academics, and Young Scholars [Symposium]

The editorial board of the Comparative Education Review will sponsor a roundtable discussion aimed primarily toward graduate students and young scholars. This workshop will provide information about publishing in academic journals in the fields of international and comparative education. This will be an informal dialogue between experts in the field and participants. During this session, published senior and junior scholars, and representatives from the editorial board of the Comparative Education Review will share their wisdom and experience about the basic tenets of research, writing, and publishing academic articles. Presenters will discuss issues such as journals in the field of comparative and international education; journal policies and audience; style and submission requirements; and the review process. Organizers will also share handouts, articles, and online resources on publishing with participants. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and express ideas during an informal discussion period at the end of the session.

Brown, Kara (Indiana University)

Development Policy and Mother-Tongue Instruction: Economic and Language Strategies in China and Estonia. [Panel]

What role do economic and political concerns and ideologies play in language planning? This panel explores the intersection of national development plans and local language concerns in rural China and Estonia. Specifically we examine the use of minority languages as languages of instruction. We address the struggle of linguistic and/or ethnic minorities to achieve greater status for their language in the local and national context. We further explore the tension that exists because many rural residents in peripheral regions are keenly aware of their lack of economic opportunity and find it difficult to support the investment of time, resources, and energy into a language whose boundaries are coextensive with those of economic deprivation. Brown investigates how southern Estonian schools have become entangled in larger debates over language planning, the strategies devised over the past eleven years to revive Voro (a regional language) and promote its legal status and cultural prestige in relation to Estonian (the state language). Buckwalter considers the prospects for mother-tongue education for ethnic minorities in western China in light of the recent initiative know as the “Great Development of the West”. Hunter examines the use of the mother tongue as language of instruction in Tibet as a method of reconnecting a population disengaged from its educational delivery system.

Brown, Katherine (Loyola University)

Alternatives for Adult Education: Models in the New Millennium [Panel]

As educational leaders strive to meet the increasing needs and demands for adult education, both in the United States and around the world, a discussion on models becomes essential. Who decides the content and goals of adult education? How integral are students in developing the vision of future adult education programs? Are the programs to be skill-driven or education experiences that broaden students’ perspectives and aid them in realizing their individual potential?

This panel will present an adult educational model that is well over one hundred years old as well as a developing model based on the needs of today’s students. The strengths and challenges of these models will be explored, as well as their potential to influence the discussion surrounding adult education reform. The final paper in the panel will draw attention to all-important outside forces often influencing adult education reform. The panelists hope that the diverse perspectives of the papers will lead to a lively discussion on the feasibility of future adult education alternatives.

Buchert, Lene (UNESCO)

The Global Initiative to Support National Efforts in Education for All [Panel]

The World Education Forum in Dakar (April 2000) committed itself to wide-ranging goals and targets for Education for All to be achieved by the years 2005 and 2015. It mandated UNESCO to lead the global initiative for support to national efforts in Education for All. The purpose of the panel is to present work in this area by three core partners in the global initiative: UNESCO, Unicef and the World Bank. The panel will focus, amongst others, on rationale and strategies for international resource mobilization and poverty-oriented targeting, and on specific work on the ground in different contexts, including conflict, post-conflict and emergency countries. The latter includes a specific focus on what are called flagship programs.

Buchert, Lene (UNESCO)

UNESCO/Unicef/World Bank Panel on the Global Initiative To Support National Efforts in Education for All [Symposium]

The World Education Forum in Dakar (April 2000) committed itself to wide-ranging goals and targets for Education for All to be achieved by the years 2005 and 2015. It mandated UNESCO to lead the global initiative for support to national efforts in Education for All. The purpose of the panel is to present work in this area by three core partners in the global initiative: UNESCO, Unicef and the World Bank. The panel will focus , amongst others, on rationale and strategies for international resource mobilization and poverty oriented targeting, and on specific work on the ground in different contexts , including conflict, post-conflict and emergency a countries. The latter includes a specific focus on what are called flagship programs.

Camp Yeakey, Carol (University of Virginia)

Global Dimensions of Child Poverty and Public Policy [Symposium]

Childhood has often been perceived of as an age of innocence. Children of the poor, in particular, lack the political power and will to change the conditions of their lives. This panel provides a unique lens by which to view child poverty and relevant public policies in national and global contexts and, in so doing, examines in rich detail the values underlying how developed and developing countries care for their young. Often lost in much of the posturing of governments and nation-states as to their support for children’s rights, are the real policies and programs which serve as barometers and barriers to impede the social development and human potential of future generations. The papers on this panel examine: the growing controversies surrounding the exploitation of child labor among global markets; the lives of migrant children of undocumented workers in America; the global implications of childhood disease and malnutrition; the increasing racial and class antagonisms among urban poor males in developed countries, towards ‘newcomers’; and, America’s increasing failure to educate children of the poor. Each paper is data based and richly grounded in theory and research pertinent to the topic. Analyses conclude with a discussion of the intended and unintended social consequences of each study’s findings for the host society and the inherent values implicit in those social consequences for future generations.

Chabbott, Colette (National Academy of Sciences)

BICSE Town Hall Meeting: Exploring Long-Term Research Agendas for Comparative and International Education [Townhall Meeting]

The Board on International Comparative Studies in Education invites CIES members to participate in town hall meeting to discuss future research agenda for international and comparative education research that could help inform US education policy making. About the Board: The U.S. National Academy of Sciences established the Board on International Comparative Studies in Education (BICSE) in 1988 to help analyze and synthesize international and comparative education research in ways that could directly inform the development of U.S. education policy. Principally funded by the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics and the National Science Foundation, for its first 10 years, BICSE focused largely on issues relating to the Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) and on improving cross-national education indicators. In 1998, however, BICSE received a new four year grant that substantially broadened its scope of work. BICSE is now looking for ways to incorporate the findings of smaller scale international and comparative research on a broader variety of topics.

Chapman, David (University of Minnesota)

In rapidly changing times, is looking back a useful basis for looking ahead?: The Utilization of Evaluation Results in International Organizations [Panel]

International development organizations are using the turn of the century as an opportunity to review their performance and reassess their development strategies for the next decade. To do this, several organizations are engaged in conducting large scale reviews of individual profect evaluations conducted over the last 5-10 years, seeking to identify particularly successful interventions and implementation approaches. At the same time, virtually all observers recognize that the external circumstances facing the developing world are rapidly changing. The future of many citizens is already being shaped by forces that were of relatively minor consequence over the last two decades. Is looking back a useful basis for looking ahead? This panel will discuss the ways in which (and the extent that) reviewing the findings of past project evaluations can inform the decision process of large international development assistance organizations and issues in the conduct of those types of reviews.

Chinapah, Vinayagum (UNESCO)

Quality of Education [Symposium]

The human rights to the achievement and fulfillment of “minimum and basic learning competencies for ALL” still remain a far-reaching dream for too many at the dawn of this new millennium. The world’s poor, the “marginalized”, the “oppressed” and the “unreached” who are mostly girls and women of rural villages and urban slums are increasingly deprived of their rights to a basic education of quality. Being a down-to earth concern and imperative, the provision of an education of quality for all requires a holistic approach to teaching and learning and to the development of the human kind in general.. The environmental conditions and contexts at home, in the community, at school and in the classroom have direct bearings on the quality of teaching and learning and learning outcomes in particular. The latter are often measured through high-stakes examinations which in turn are used to screen out, to select and to push out the majority from the elected few for future educational or occupational opportunities. Monitoring what our children are learning, how and under which conditions, will be addressed by this panel based upon tangible results from educational surveys and studies around the globe, in different regions and from sample of national cases . Mastering the minimum and basic learning competencies as are defined for respective relevant and targeted groups has been examined and assessed since the Jomtien 1990’s World Conference on Education for All. The findings and policy implications were presented and reported at the recent World Education Forum (Dakar, April 2000) as follow-ups to regional and sub-regional presentations. The panelists will take stock of the most recent findings and policy-implications for the improvement of quality education using international, regional, sub-regional and national perspectives.

Clayton, Thomas (University of Kentucky)

The International Spread of English: Implications for Global Equity [Panel]

Since the Second World War and particularly in the last decade, the English language has spread into use in an astonishing diversity of settings internationally. Reasons for the international spread of English are both varied and mappable. From a functional perspective, national policy makers explain decisions privileging the use of English as facilitating the integration of linguistically diverse nations, offering cost advantages over the development of indigenous languages for use in multiple domains, and providing opportunities for international communication within the context of education, science and technology, commerce, the internet, and other arenas. From a radical-functional perspective, critics argue that advanced capitalist nations manipulate language policies in developing countries in favor of English; the development of a global English language infrastructure provides direct economic advantage to advanced capitalist nations and, further, provides a linguistic mechanism for the international transmission of ideologies congruent with their interests. Against this theoretical backdrop, authors on this panel present case studies of the international spread of English in Africa, Europe, and Asia. Thus, authors advance our fund of descriptive knowledge about the international spread of English, while at the same time seeking a complex understanding of the implications of this phenomenon for global equity.

Cleghorn, Ailie (Concord University)

Science Literacy, Science Materials and perceptions of Science: A Cross National Perspective [Panel]

The panel will draw on research from differing cultural perspectives in Europe, North America and Africa, to illuminate the interface between (1) ideas of science and science education (2) the materials used to communicate such ideas and (3) the development of science literacy. Participants will present findings relating to both teachers’ and learners’ perspectives. One paper (Cleghorn) will focus on how the nature of teachers’ views of the nature of science relate to perceptions of culturally appropriate teaching approaches. A second paper (Peacock) considers the repertoire of science teaching strategies used in differing cultural contexts, and how these impact on the use of materials and ideas of science implicit in such use. The third paper (McEneaney) uses macrosociological perspectives to address the issue of why scientific literacy as a pedagogical approach has diffused so widely. The fourth paper (Pillai) reports on children’s science in Ethiopia through analysis of the indigenous knowledge content of a grade two, Amharic language textbook. Panel discussion will be directed towards the implications of the above for the emergence of science literacy, and how these notions can be brought to bear on global health, environmental and other concerns.

Cornbleth, Catherine (University at Buffalo)

Climates and Constraints on US Curriculum and Teaching [Symposium]

In this symposium, we offer comparative perspectives on climates of constraints and restraints on curriculum, teaching, teacher professional development, and administration that have been shown to impede school improvement efforts. We are especially interested in climates that impede teaching for meaningful learning and critical thinking that incorporate diverse students and perspectives. In addition to continuing interest in and effort toward quality schooling, this proposal has two more immediate sources: a joint profect between Addis Ababa University and the University at Buffalo to improve distance education, particularly an AAU curriculum masters program; and an interpretive review of English language research on constraints/restraints on curriculum and teaching.

Cummings, William (Graduate School of Education and Human Development)

The Future of Urban Youth in Big Cities [Symposium]

To greater or lesser degree, big cities around the world face a common fate. The new industries of the communications-leisure complex find it more congenial to locate their workplaces in suburban and rural settings and to erect relatively high technical entry requirements for employees. The older industries that once located near the edge of big cities tend to be in decline. In this context of global neglect, some big cities continue to provide important and even expanding functions as modes of transport, networking governance, culture, finance and crime. However, many of the young people who grow up in the big cities sense a great distance between their upbringing and the opportunities available in their environs. This may be especially the case in the big cities such as those in South Africa and the cast coast of the US ,which for different reasons, have experienced two or more decades of decline, before the recent up turn of their fortunes. For example, in South Africa, the lost generation of youth raised under apartheid were deprived of even minimal educational opportunities and now in the new democratic era are expected somehow to catch up with the new generation. For a large proportion of urban youth, especially those raised in poorer homes where parents are weak in social and cultural capital, the big city as currently structured offers little hope. This study seeks, through a comparison of several big cities, to gain a deeper understanding of condition of urban youth, the opportunities available to them, the types of innovative educational programs that have been developed in some settings to enable these youth to make connections with the adult citizenship roles of work, parenthood, community participation and politics and leisure. For the CIES 2001 conference, a symposium will be convened with representatives to speak on cross cutting concerns such as demographic, economic, social and educational indicators as well as on the policy environment and interventions in the featured big cities of Washington, D.C, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, Tokyo, Jakarta, Addis Ababa, and Cape town.

Darnell, William (Academy for Educational Development)

Post-basic Education Critical Issues and Forces Affecting Policy Decisions [Panel]

This panel will identify critical issues for consideration in the development of post basic education policies, and to identify practical lessons learned from the global experience of the last decades of reform and reassessment of secondary education. The panel will also assess the forces affecting the expansion, structure and curriculum of post-basic education world-wide, discuss the dilemmas that countries typically face. Particular emphasis is given to the critical issues affecting central policy reform and will include international comparisons and country-specific lessons. An overview will set the framework for policy making in post-basic education by identifying forces affecting expansion, structure and curriculum of youth education and presenting the critical policy issues faced by government and families in different countries. Alternative policies and approaches to these new demands and global evolution will be discussed as a background for in-depth analyses of the issues: expansion and equity, knowledge and skills for the new economy and the contribution of technology.

Darnell, William (Academy for Educational Development)

Bangladesh’s Female Secondary School Assistance Project: Expanding the Definition of Quality [Symposium]

The Government of Bangladesh through the IDA/World Bank’s Female Secondary School Assistance Project (FSSAP) has provided over one million rural Bangladeshi girls access to lower secondary school. The project has raised girls’ enrollment to parity with boys in secondary school and has brought about a ‘quiet’ social revolution for girls and women in Bangladesh, changing family and societal expectations for girls and girls’ expectations for themselves and their futures. FSSAP has been lauded as one of the most significant reform efforts for secondary school girls internationally in the last three decades.

As Phase Two of the project is considered, challenges and conundrums that surfaced in Phase One come to the fore: What have been the trade-offs between rapidly expanding access and educational quality and how can quality be improved? What shifting roles and responsibilities for ministries of education, NGOs, the private sector, and individual schools will result in more efficient and effective project implementation? Since communities have been involved only in limited ways in FSSAP, can their involvement be increased to improve girls’ and boys’ achievement in Phase Two? When is an appropriate time for scholarship and stipend assistance to come to an end?

Draxler, Alexandra (UNESCO)

Which ICT Solutions for Which Educational Problems? [Symposium]

The benefits of information and communications technologies for delivery of education and as learning tools are widely assumed to be obvious. All educational innovations, however, carry risks, whether they be of failure to deliver the improvement promised, or of lack of sustainability, or finally of unforeseen negative consequences. In wealthy societies, these risks are generally viewed as small compared to the benefits gained from experimentation, diversification, and enhanced experience and evidence about the various effects on learning when new approaches are implemented. In the developing world, the risks are greater; implementation costs are relatively higher compared to overall budgets; systems are less resilient, making innovation more problematic to put in place; hidden costs and maintenance costs, even when small; can be impossible to cover and bring innovations to a halt; and a technology that is comparatively novel in the societal setting can be locked away, stolen or broken very quickly. These considerations are crucial to making effective decisions about ho w and on what scale technological innovations can bring real benefits in delivery, quality, and reach of education in developing countries.

Epstein, Erwin (Loyola University of Chicago)

An examination of Content Boundaries and Standards in the Teaching of Comparative and International Education [Panel]

Recent national and regional CIES conferences have hosted various symposia on the content boundaries and standards in comparative and international education programs and courses around the world. These discussions have been useful in discerning how our field might better develop programs, curriculum and coursework for students pursuing studies in the field. The discussions also revealed how little attention comparativists have given in the past to sharing views on classroom instruction, especially in regard to the question of how the field should be introduced to those being exposed to it for the first time.

Introductory course syllabi and other descriptive documents compiled from institutions that teach comparative education will be presented and discussed. Questions will be raised concerning the nature of differences and similarities among introductory course outlines. To what extent do comparative education courses reflect, or should reflect, common ground? What topics and literature should be considered essential when teaching comparative education courses? To what extent do instructors focus on comparative education as a finite discipline? To what degree is there conceptual consistency in the teaching of comparative and international education?

The panel includes introductory-course instructors who will explain their outlines and course objectives. It is hoped that by thoughtfully and carefully considering how others teach the field, comparativist scholars and instructors will gain insight into their own content delivery.

Epstein, Irving (Illinois Wesleyan University)

Preserving Academic Freedom Globally: The Scholars at Risk Network [Symposium]

The Scholars at Risk Network assists scholars outside the US whose work is threatened by mass or individual displacement, discrimination, censorship, harassment, intimidation, or violence. The Network is designed to include universities, colleges, and research centers that will serve as temporary hosts for qualified scholars who are in need of sanctuary outside of their home region. Members of this symposium will examine the assumptions that led to the creation of the Network in June, 2000, the logistical and operational issues involved in administering such a program, and the larger implications for comparative educators concerned with global issues regarding academic freedom, brain drain, and scholarly exchange. The Network is housed at the University of Chicago and has been supported with a grant from the MacArthur Foundation. During the 1930s and 1940s, prominent higher education institutions such as the University of Chicago and the New School for Social Research provided assistance to persecuted European intellectuals and scholars who contributed to the reinvigoration of academic life in North America. Whether such a model is transferable to the 21st century global context is a specific theme that the panel will discuss. Other themes include the degree to which academicians and public intellectuals are more deserving of protection than other citizens in conflict-ridden societies; the degree to which persecution for political involvement coincides with or departs from the exercise of academic freedom; and the long-term implications of embarking upon a program that can at best offer temporary assistance to scholars in immediate danger.

Evers, Michael (International Institute for Study of Ergonagy)

A Comparison of Perceptions in Japan and the United States on the Value of Education and Training Subjects [Panel]

As educators and their institutions increasingly form linkages in a global society from which they may develop Affirmative Alternatives for Educational Policy, Practice, and Transformation, it is essential that input is gleaned from recipients of education who are now putting into practice what they have learned as a function of current and past educational endeavors. This panel presentation offers insights, research findings, and results of surveys conducted in Japan and the United States of workers’ perceptions as to which aspects of education are proving to be most beneficial to them in their work and daily life. The impact of differences in educational concepts, national heritage versus multicultural globalism, and technological advances are considered in light of the survey results. The first in a series of studies that will provide input from various sources that will eventually offer a “360 perspective” of the perceived value of education and training for work, this comparative glimpse of two countries’ perceptions will hopefully stimulate similar comparative studies. The discussion conducted in this session should be of interest to educators involved in formulating curricula, internships, and applied educational experiences.

Fair, Kristi (Macro International)

Educational Attainment and the Demand for Schooling in Sub-Saharan Africa [Panel]

This panel includes three papers on educational attainment and the demand for schooling in sub-Saharan Africa, using household-based education data from the DHS EdData Activity and the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program. Anne Genereux and Kim Bolyard present data from the 1999 Guinea DHS, which included an extens