Leading US education researcher to visit NZ

19 June 2003

Leading US education researcher to visit New Zealand

Higher teacher pay, increased parental choice, high parental expectations and well-designed school accountability systems are important for good education outcomes, according to a book edited by United States economist Ed Lazear, who visits Wellington next week.

Prof Lazear, in Wellington at the invitation of the Education Forum, is from Stanford University and the Hoover Institution and is editor of Education in the Twenty-First Century, a book that provides a comprehensive examination of many key education policy questions.

The book examines a number of controversial issues: How important is education to economic growth? Does lowering class sizes achieve better education performance? Do government education policies strengthen or undermine the parent-child relationship and what does this mean for education outcomes? Should we set lower standards for minority students? Should we be more concerned with bringing middle students up to the top, or the bottom to the middle? And how do we really measure the quality of education?

Prof Lazear will speak on the themes in the book at an Education Forum function in Wellington on 23 June, starting at 5.30pm (Urban Health Theatrette, Ground Floor BP House, Corner Customhouse Quay and Johnston Street, Wellington.)

For further information on Prof Lazear, please visit http://www.educationforum.org.nz.

To attend the function on 23 June, please contact Viv Itula at Awaroa Partners by Friday, 20 June, on (04) 472 6100, or email newsroom@educationforum.org.nz.

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