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Participation in cross-national assessment is becoming a global phenomenon. While there were only 43 countries that participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2000, the number of participating countries/economies has increased to 65 in 2009. To understand this global trend, this chapter seeks to answer the following research questions: What are the real incentives for developing countries to participate in cross-national assessments? What do they gain from actual participation in cross-national assessments, given that there are many constraints and barriers associated with test participation? It employs country-level fixed effects to test the hypothesis that there is a positive association between participation in cross-national assessments and foreign aid to education. This study shows that countries that participate in major cross-national assessments receive, on average, 37 percent more foreign aid to education than countries that do not participate in major cross-national assessments, while holding all other variables constant. Although further research is necessary to make a causal warrant of the association between participation in cross-national assessment and education aid, the results of this study have great implications for developing countries that are considering participating in cross-national assessments.

This chapter discusses the influence of international educational studies on knowledge in a general sense. In a theoretical framework, a split between realistic and constructivist theories of knowledge with special regards to global and local knowledge is discussed.

Since Slovenia is a country that is included in a number of different international comparative educational studies and assessments, even more so, it has been participating in these studies continually for the last two decades, the focus is on Slovenian educational policymaking (PM). The chapter for the first time analyzes the impacts on national PM of different international studies and predicts the future Slovenian participation in these studies; therefore, the chapter could be interesting for national and international audiences involved in comparative education research. For the estimation of existing impacts on national PM, semi-structured interviews were used. The findings suggest that international results represent an argumentation for some directly and indirectly curricular and syllabus changes over the years. Furthermore, some of the argumentations for changing the national educational system regarding the international findings are still more declarative; irrespective of experts and policymakers estimations of how great impacts these studies have in Slovenia. Future research on the topic for Slovenian PM in education will need more secondary analysis of collected data from both national and international assessments.

The UK National Clinical Assessment Service (NCAS) provides local NHS bodies with advice and support in relation to concerns about individual doctors and dentists and in some cases also conducts a detailed assessment of practitioner performance. The purpose of this paper is to identify the contribution of NCAS performance assessment to clarifying concerns about clinical performance through comparison of concerns suspected at initial referral with those identified at assessment.

In the paper a sample of 50 NCAS medical cases, performance issues reported at the point of referral to NCAS and those identified at assessment were grouped into five broad domains (clinical care, behaviour, health, education and training, organisation). Concerns identified at assessment were compared with those reported at referral for each domain of concern. Conclusions and recommendations following assessment were also reviewed.

Within each domain, some concerns noted at referral were confirmed; others were challenged or redefined. In all areas, but particularly in respect of the work environment, new concerns were identified for the first time at assessment. In 20 percent of cases, the concerns identified at referral were not borne out at assessment. In 12 percent of cases the issues revealed at assessment were more serious than anticipated.

Findings indicate that the NCAS assessment process provides a more accurate and comprehensive “diagnosis” of performance issues, enabling more appropriate recommendations for “treatment” and helping to differentiate between potentially remediable and more fundamental problems.

There is currently little published evidence about the contribution of this type of performance assessment programme to clarifying performance issues.

Emphasis on quality improvement has been one of the most characteristic features of higher education policy in Nordic and other European countries during the 1990s. In Sweden, the universities’ work with quality management has been evaluated for several years. In January 2001, the National Agency of Higher Education in Sweden introduced a new comprehensive system for quality assessment. The Swedish assessment system stresses that the assessment should have as a corner‐stone the specific prerequisites for each university and subject, e.g. business administration and their development strategy. The comprehensive quality assessments of Swedish higher education institutions are discussed together with stimulating innovation and continuous improvement of higher education.

The purpose of this paper is to report on performance measurement and impact assessment progress made in 14 countries as part of the Global Libraries initiative, starting with the early country grants in Mexico and Chile. For the mature grants in Bulgaria, Botswana, Poland, Romania, Ukraine and Viet Nam which were recently completed or are approaching completion, the nature of the country program is outlined, before the impact assessment work is described and some recent results and conclusions are reported. A similar approach is adopted with pilot and new grants in Colombia, Indonesia, South Africa, Turkey and Lithuania.

The country reports are presented as a series of case studies, in some cases supplementing those in an earlier special issue of this journal.

Where appropriate, recent country-specific survey findings are reported.

This paper shares Global Libraries IPA learning at country level with people in other countries who may be contemplating public library evaluation at regional, national or local level or who are interested in performance measurement and impact evaluation.

These cases studies reflect concentrated impact assessment and performance measurement work at country level across a range of countries over more than 12 years.

Reports a British Library Research and Innovation Centre funded research project which aims to develop a method for assessing preservation needs in UK libraries and archives, and to develop the method in such a way as to facilitate an assessment of national preservation needs and priorities. Discusses what is meant by a preservation needs assessment, provides an overview of recent and ongoing preservation surveys and presents preliminary findings relating to key practical issues. Highlights the primary importance of good preparation and planning, the need to concentrate on “asking the right questions” to meet stated aims and objectives and the need to ensure that the assessment is not planned and carried out in isolation. The development of a national preservation needs assessment ‐ fundamental to the development of a UK national preservation strategy ‐ is considered in the light of these findings.

There has been a notable growth in the number, participants, and frequency of international assessments of student academic performance over the past 50 years. This chapter provides a structure for the perspectives that could be used to analyze this rise. This chapter highlights case study examples of specific countries' choices to participate in particular assessments. It further describes the utility of three analytic frameworks in understanding the decision factors, diffusion mechanisms, and environmental dynamics that relate to international testing. Factors such as the cost of testing, the cultural connections between nations participating, and the temporal relevance of testing to today's focus on accountability arise in illustrations of the transmission mechanism for international achievement tests. This chapter organizes large and diverse amounts of important testing sampling frame information in a unique way. The questions we ask are driven by the framework we begin analyzing with. Organizations conducting these tests can better understand the touchpoints for nations deciding whether or not to participate. Concerns about developing country participation, for example, can be better addressed.

The shift from data-informed to data-driven educational policymaking is conceptually framed by institutional and transhumanist perspectives. Examples of the shift to large-scale quantitative data driving educational decision-making suggest that data-driven educational policy will not adjust for context to the degree as done by the data-informed or data-based policymaking. Instead, the algorithmization of educational decision-making is both increasingly realizable and necessary in light of the overwhelmingly big data on education produced annually around the world. Evidence suggests that the isomorphic shift from localized data and individual decision-making about education to large-scale assessment data has changed the nature of educational decision-making and national educational policy. Big data are increasingly legitimized in educational policy communities at national and international levels, which means that algorithms are assumed to be the best way to analyze and make decisions about large volumes of complex data. There is a conceptual concern, however, that decontextualized or de-humanized educational policies may have the effect of increasing student achievement, but not necessarily the translation of knowledge into economically, socially, or politically productive behavior.

This study considers the structure of PISA penetration into education policy through a comparative analysis of Japan and Norway. Many studies on PISA’s impact tend to emphasize the character of PISA result as a norm, such as the concept of “governance by comparison.” This study regards PISA as a norm of educational contents and analyzes the structure of PISA penetration into educational contents policy, with respect to the national curriculum. In describing the situations around PISA in the two countries, the background of the acceptance of PISA, the nature of national curriculum in education policy and its character, and the structure of PISA penetration with the focus being on how PISA is integrated into the national curriculum are analyzed through related documents and literatures. As a result of comparative analysis, three common features are found. First of all, PISA penetration occurred in the context of “PISA Shock” since the importance of PISA itself was recognized. Second, the system of management by objectives was included in the educational system and PISA penetrated into that system as objectives. Third, in relation with this second point, PISA as a norm of educational contents was integrated into existing educational goals or subjects. These features are evident only in the comparison of two countries, so a deeper analysis of PISA penetration will be needed in a future study.

The purpose of the paper is to provide a retrospective assessment of progress in disaster risk governance in Africa against the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) since 2000. This assessment of progress achieved in disaster risk governance in Africa aims to identify achievements, good practices, gaps and challenges against selected HFA indicators (in particular Priority 1).

This study mainly followed a qualitative methodology although quantitative data were interpreted to achieve the research objectives. Available literature (scientific articles, research and technical reports) on disaster risk governance was used as primary research data. This research used a selected number of African countries as its basis for analysis (Burundi, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Swaziland and South Africa). By investigating literature on disaster risk governance an analytical framework was developed which guided the assessment of the achievements, good practices, gaps and challenges in implementing disaster risk governance on the African continent since the inception of the HFA in 2005.

The research found that African countries have been making steady progress in implementing disaster risk governance against theoretical indicators. The continent contains a few international best practices which other nations can learn from. Certain gaps and challenges are, however, still hampering better progress in the reduction of disaster risks. There is the need for multi-layered ownership and understanding of disaster risks and their cross-sectoral nature, with strong community engagement.

An assessment of progress in disaster risk governance in Africa can assist greatly in shaping future international and national policy, legislation and implementation. The research provided input to the Global Assessment Report for 2015 and identified opportunities in disaster risk governance beyond 2015.