Curriculum reform as 'soft' policy implementation

Hard Policy

The Role of Legislation in Educational Decentralization: The Case of Israel and Britain

Dan Gibton and Ellen Goldring

Capitalizing on research on law-based educational reform regarding decentralization policy efforts, this article compares the role of legislation in educational decentralization in Britain and Israel. We chose these two countries because both have strong centralized educational policy, carried out by strong centralized Ministries of Education. Both countries went through extensive decentralization during the 1980s and 1990s initiated partly by their respective central governments. These two countries provide a meaningful lens for comparison because of their contrasting attitudes toward legislation as a major policy tool for advancing decentralization in education.

No Child Left Behind

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (No Child Left Behind) is a landmark in education reform designed to improve student achievement and change the culture of America's schools. President George W. Bush describes this law as the "cornerstone of my administration." Clearly, our children are our future, and, as President Bush has expressed, "Too many of our neediest children are being left behind."

With passage of No Child Left Behind, Congress reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)--the principal federal law affecting education from kindergarten through high school. In amending ESEA, the new law represents a sweeping overhaul of federal efforts to support elementary and secondary education in the United States. It is built on four common-sense pillars: accountability for results; an emphasis on doing what works based on scientific research; expanded parental options; and expanded local control and flexibility.

Links

Neo-liberal education policy approaching the Finnish shoreline?

Encyclopaedia of Modern Techniques of School Education, Vol. II: Teaching in secondary schools/edited by H.D. Kamat

National education policy constructions of the ‘knowledge economy’: towards a
critique

Policy that works for forests and people

The Opportunism of the ‘Global’: Malta’s education policies

Hard, Soft and Open Methods of Policy Co-ordination and the Reform of the Stability and Growth Pact

Are 'soft' policy instruments effective? The link between environmental management systems and the environmental performance of companies

Soft Governance, Agile Union? Analysis of the Extensions of Open Coordination in 2000

A New and Effective Form of Governance? Comparing the OMC to Multi-lateral Surveillance by the IMF and the OECD

‘Unpacking’ the Policy-Making Process: The European Employment Strategy and Europeanization

"Speaking with Forked Tongue" - Swedish Employment Policy and European Guidelines