Abstract: Cultivating custodians of democracy requires a deep understanding of the environmental and cultural forces that impel change, as well as the skills to respond to unexpected events in ways that promote inclusive participation. While civics, history, and social studies have traditionally been assigned the task of citizenship education, I will argue that if democracy is to flourish, the education of the new patriot will require the reconstruction of the STEM and expressive (aesthetic) curricula as well. The aim is to create a body of citizens who are committed to maintaining a democratic culture, who are open to change, and can reassess their individual and collective responses to it. Thus, Educating for Democracy holds that today democracy requires a new form of patriotism, one where loyalty and commitment are informed by disciplined inquiry and broad participation. The book shows how different subject areas can contribute to this aim.

There is constant pressure on governments and policymakers globally to raise the standard of education and to develop the appropriate curriculum and pedagogies to enable students to fit the world they will enter post-school; there are also international comparisons. There is a body of scholarship in the leadership field on change and reform, largely focused on the processes and ways of working. The policy and academic world have also focused on these matters, largely in the form of theoretical discussions or critical debates about issues of transnational work, school effectiveness or school improvement. There has been less focus on the implementation of reform or change. This chapter synthesises the literature on implementation in the fields of public policy and education and reviews existing thinking and scholarship on reform and implementation. The authors identify the common understandings, different approaches and gaps in the field, thus providing a rationale for the book and for the choice of case studies.

Israel is at a crossroads. It has one of the lowest productivity levels and one of the highest poverty rates in the developed world. With roughly half of its children receiving education that falls short of preparing them to work in a modern economy, future economic sustainability is not a foregone conclusion. On the other hand, the country’s leading universities are excellent, and they have been converging with the top American universities. The knowledge needed to raise Israel to viable economic trajectories exists within its borders, but the education system is not channeling this knowledge effectively to the primary and secondary schools, which in turn limits many pupils’ subsequent ability to enter quality higher education institutions. This chapter highlights aspects of education’s economic impact and focuses on a number of misconceptions about the state of education in Israel. It provides an overview of achievements and failings in Israel’s primary, secondary, and higher education systems, and highlights the importance of high school curriculum and academic field of study to adult wages.

The common practice of disaggregating student data by singular demographic fields such as race, English learner, or disability status can lead to flawed conclusions or reinforce harmful stereotypes. The Academic Support Index (ASI) provides an alternative lens for looking at student data by considering the interaction of seven common demographic fields and their relationship to academic achievement. The ASI has a strong association with outcomes including standardized assessments, grade point average, and postsecondary outcomes. This chapter will provide a history of the development of the ASI and its statistical foundation. Additionally, examples of how the ASI has been used to analyze data, identify students for support, design interventions, and evaluate programs are provided. The ASI has the potential to be an important tool in addressing both achievement and opportunity gaps.

Chile’s national, centralized admissions system selects students for both public and private universities that are part of the Unified Admission System. This chapter details the centralized admissions process that controls, supervises, and evaluates the tests; how the testing operation –testing, scoring, application, and selection processes – is conducted; equity issues in admission to Chilean higher education institution; and reforms to the admissions test, the Prueba de Selección Universitaria.

The Saudi government is educating its young population, with the vast majority attending higher educational institutions in the Kingdom and the brightest students being sent to study overseas, sponsored by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques’ Overseas Scholarship Programme – better known in the West as the King Abdullah Scholarship Programme (KASP). In fact, it was the leaders of the Kingdom’s universities, rectors and senior supporting personnel, who convinced the Saudi government to transform the Kingdom into a knowledge-based economy and, by extension, society, by utilizing its considerable resources to better educate and build its human capital. This chapter discusses young men’s opinions of the education system and the degree to which it prepares them for tertiary education and employment. The chapter also looks at the extent of societal transformation in Saudi Arabia, as well as the impact of globalization on Saudi society.