Policies toward quality education and student learning: Constructing a critical perspective

This paper argues that, in today's highly interconnected world, education models, practices, evidence and policies are quickly flowing across borders. Comparative information and science-derived knowledge about foreign education systems are being disseminated and "borrowed" to an unprecedented degree. The "demands" of a competitive world economy and calls for accountability and evidence-based policy have contributed to expanding networks of specialists, who create, interpret and disseminate educational research and policy recommendations. A results-oriented discourse currently prevails. It has shifted the debate about "quality" education from an examination of inputs and processes to one fixated on learning outcomes. Expanding large-scale learning assessments, despite many flaws and limitations, are provoking unwarranted calls for educational reform. A critical perspective toward assessments and their current uses is needed.