Autori: Olimpius Istrate, Gabriela Noveanu, Thomas Smith

Editorial: Springer Netherlands, Prospects, Volume 36, Number 4 / December, 2006, p.475-496, 2006.

Rezumat:

For Romania to effectively compete in an increasingly global economy, it must improve the science and technology skills of its entire workforce, not just the skills of the elite. To support this aim, current educational reforms call for an expansion of higher education and increased numbers of secondary education graduates capable of contributing to the new market-oriented society. An important step in this direction has been to improve the science proficiency of all lower secondary students, irrespective of geographic location, socio-economic background, or ethnic origin. To achieve this goal, policy makers need to know what contributes to current gaps in the achievement of Romanian children as well as what school level-factors can be leveraged to improve the achievement of all children. To contribute to this discussion, this article assesses the size of current gaps in science achievement near the end of lower secondary education using Romanian data from the 2003 TIMSS. Variation in the socioeconomic background of students, teachers’ subject matter knowledge, experience, and instructional practices, as well as the academic climate of the schools are examined as possible sources for variation in students’ science proficiency and the urban/rural gap in achievement.

Cuvinte cheie: educatie comparata, calitatea educatiei // comparative education, school quality and equity

URL: http://www.springerlink.com/content/e1416121v40225t5