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\"In the past 15 years, important developments have occurred in the field of testing, requiring significant revision to Standards. Five areas, in particular, receive attention in the 2014 revision: Examining the accountability issues for the uses of tests in educational policy; Broadening the concept of accessibility of tests for all examinees; Representing more comprehensively the role of tests in the workplace; Taking into account the expanding role of technology in testing; Improving the structure of the book for better communication of the standards. Standards was revised under the aegis of a management committee created by the three organizations to help them determine when revision was required to address new testing issues, set priorities regarding the significant problem areas to be addressed, and to appoint a group of scholars -- a Joint Committee -- to prepare the revised document.

Creation and application of the quality standards in educational system is one of the key factors to achieve the desired goals for the visions of this country. It is an important step towards an effective and efficient educational system. In recent years, great efforts have been made and many questions have been created about the quality of the educational system which is far from the quality assurance standards. The aim of this study is to elucidate the position of standardization and to improve the quality of educational system in Iran. In this regard, the authors study the causes of standardization and survey the objectives as well as the results of their applications in different aspects of educational system in Iran. In this paper, educational standards are regarded as systems that control the quality of activities and services provided by the educational system. Also, they consider that educational standards should be in accordance with international criteria as well as the domestic and traditional issues in order to make a change.

Both the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and recent efforts to hold schools and teachers accountable have been hotly debated among practitioners, policymakers, and the public at large. Much of the debate centers on the merits and demerits of these initiatives and the general approach they represent to reforming teaching and learning. In this article, we focus on a different issue, that is, the opportunity to advance research on policy implementation afforded by the intertwined nature of CCSS and accountability efforts. Arguing that it is essential for stakeholders, regardless of their stance on either reform, to understand whether and how both influence classroom teaching and learning, we outline elements of a research agenda to generate knowledge important to the design of future instructional policies. For this to happen, we argue that an implementation research agenda needs to build on (rather than reinvent) lessons learned from the past quarter century of implementation scholarship on instructional policy. To that end, we review theoretical and empirical insights from implementation research on standards-based reform and outline specific avenues for potential theory testing research on educational policy implementation.

In this provocative book, influential scholar E.D. Hirsch, Jr., addresses critical issues in contemporary education reform - over-testing, teacher blaming, preschool fadeout, and the persistence of achievement gaps over time. In each case, he shows how cherished truisms about education and child development have led to unintended and negative consequences. Drawing on recent findings in neuroscience and new data from France, he provides new evidence for the argument that a coherent, knowledge-based elementary curriculum is essential to providing the foundations for children's life success and ensuring equal opportunity for students of all backgrounds.

The lockdown of schools in Spain to confront the effects of COVID-19 caused an enormous impact at both societal and educational levels. Schools and families had to react rapidly to a new teaching and learning scenario without the benefit of previous planning or government guidelines. In this context, some schools were better able to adapt to the new circumstances than others. Likewise, the structure and size of families’ economic, social and cultural capital produced significant differences in the learning opportunities for children from different backgrounds. This article assesses the impact of the school lockdown on the learning gap between children from different social backgrounds in Catalonia. Based on 35,419 responses to an online survey administered between 26 and 30 March 2020 to families with children aged between 3 and 18, the authors’analysis shows that learning opportunities varied significantly. Middle-class families were able to maintain higher standards of education quality in a critical context, while children from socially disadvantaged families had few learning opportunities both in terms of time and learning experiences (schoolwork and maintenance of after-school activities). Results differed by type of school (public/private) where students were enrolled, family economic, social and cultural capital, and family living conditions. In the final part of the article, the authors highlight the importance of the role of the school in ensuring learning opportunities for children from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and they discuss some policy implications of their findings. L’impact du confinement sur les écarts en matière d’apprentissage : disparités familiales et scolaires en période de crise – La fermeture des écoles en Espagne durant le confinement pour faire face aux effets de la COVID-19 a eu d’immenses répercussions sur les plans sociétal et éducatif. Les écoles et les familles ont rapidement réagi au nouveau scénario de l’enseignement et de l’apprentissage sans pouvoir s’appuyer sur une planification préalable ou des directives gouvernementales. Dans ce contexte, certaines écoles ont réussi mieux que d’autres à s’adapter à ces nouvelles circonstances. De même, la structure et la taille du capital économique, social et culturel des familles a montré qu’en fonction de leur milieu, les enfants avaient des possibilités d’apprendre très inégales. Cet article évalue l’impact de la fermeture des écoles en Espagne durant le confinement sur les écarts en matière d’apprentissage chez des enfants de différents milieux sociaux en Catalogne. S’appuyant sur 35 419 réponses à une enquête en ligne menée entre le 26 et le 30 mars 2020 auprès de familles avec des enfants âgés de trois à dix-huit ans, l’analyse des auteurs révèle de considérables disparités concernant les possibilités d’apprendre. Les familles de la classe moyenne ont réussi à maintenir un niveau d’éducation élevé dans cette situation critique, tandis que dans les familles défavorisées sur le plan social, les possibilités des enfants étaient restreintes, tant en termes de temps que d’expériences éducatives (devoirs et maintien d’activités extrascolaires). Les résultats étaient différents en fonction du type d’établissement (public/privé) où les élèves étaient inscrits, de la situation économique de la famille, du capital social et culturel de cette dernière et de ses conditions de vie. Dans la dernière partie de l’article, les auteurs soulignent l’importance du rôle de l’école pour garantir la possibilité d’apprendre aux enfants de milieux socioé-conomiquement faibles. Ils abordent en outre un certain nombre de conséquences qu’entraînent leurs constatations pour les politiques en matière d’éducation. El impacto del cierre escolar en la brecha de aprendizaje: divisiones familiares y escolares en tiempos de crisis – El cierre de escuelas en España para hacer frente a los efectos de la COVID-19 causó un enorme impacto tanto a nivel social como educativo. Escuelas y familias tuvieron que reaccionar rápidamente a un nuevo escenario de enseñanza y aprendizaje sin contar con planificación previa o con directrices gubernamentales. En este contexto, algunas escuelas fueron capaces de adaptarse mejor a las nuevas circunstancias que otras. Asimismo, la estructura y el tamaño del capital económico, social y cultural de las familias produjeron diferencias significativas en las oportunidades de aprendizaje de los niños y niñas de diferentes orígenes. Este artículo evalúa el impacto del cierre de las escuelas en la brecha de aprendizaje entre el alumnado de diferentes orígenes sociales en Cataluña. Sobre la base de 35.419 respuestas a una encuesta en línea realizada entre el 26 y el 30 de marzo de 2020 a familias con hijos e hijas de entre 3 y 18 años, el análisis muestra que las oportunidades de aprendizaje varían significativamente. Las familias de clase media pudieron mantener niveles más altos de calidad educativa en un contexto crítico, mientras que los niños de familias socialmente desfavorecidas tuvieron pocas oportunidades de aprendizaje, tanto en términos de tiempo como de experiencias de aprendizaje (tareas escolares y mantenimiento de las actividades extraescolares). Los resultados difieren según el tipo de escuela (pública o privada) en que estaban matriculados los estudiantes, el capital económico, social y cultural de la familia y sus condiciones de vida. En la parte final del artículo, se destaca la importancia del papel de la escuela para garantizar las oportunidades de aprendizaje de los niños procedentes de entornos socioeconómicos bajos, y se examinan algunas de las repercusiones en clave de política educativa.

The Common Core standards released in 2010 for English language arts and mathematics have already been adopted by dozens of states. Just how much change do these new standards represent, and what is the nature ofthat change? In this article, the Common Core standards are compared with current state standards and assessments and with standards in top-performing countries, as well as with reports from a sample of teachers from across the country describing their own practices.

This article extends the literature on 21st-century learning skills needed for workplace success by providing an empirical examination of employers' direct communication to potential employees via job advertisements. Our descriptive analysis of 142,000 job advertisements provides two contributions. First, this is one of the first studies to empirically rank-order skill demand. In doing so, it is clear that oral and written communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills are in high demand by employers, with particular emphasis on the pairing of oral and written communication. Furthermore, it is apparent that many of the skills suggested in the literature as being critical for workplace success are in very low demand by employers, and some were not found to be mentioned at all (e.g., social responsibility). Second, this study explicitly examined whether 21st-century skill demand varied by job characteristics, which was found to be the case, with differences being noted for both education level and degree field requirements. Results were replicated with a sample of roughly 120,000 job advertisements collected 1 year from the initial data collection. Implications for developing educational standards around 21st-century skill development are discussed.