Since the creation of the National Cooperative Educational Statistics System in 1988, states have joined with the National Center for Education Statistics to produce and maintain comparable and uniform education statistics. Through the National Forum on Education Statistics, states have met to develop and propose a set of basic data elements for voluntary use. Using these data elements will provide more comparable and reliable education information for any educational system adopting the common terminology. The basic data elements will not meet every education information purpose, but a set of basic data elements should help answer the most frequently asked questions about the administration, status, quality, operation, and performance of schools and school systems. This report presents a process for selecting and including new data elements in an information system and the student and staff elements that can be used to create information for conducting the day-to-day administration of schools and school districts; completing federal and state reports, and creating indicators that address questions about the success and functioning of education systems. The basic data elements selected for student information systems are grouped into categories of: (1) personal information; (2) enrollment; (3) school participation and activities; (4) assessment; (5) transportation; (6) health conditions, special program participation, and student support services; and (7) discipline. Similar elements defined for staff information systems include personal information, educational background, qualification information, current employment, assignments, and information on career development and separation from employment. An appendix contains discussions of policy questions, indicators, and basic data elements. (SLD)

This report reviews engineering's importance to human, economic, social and cultural development and in addressing the UN Millennium Development Goals. Engineering tends to be viewed as a national issue, but engineering knowledge, companies, conferences and journals, all demonstrate that it is as international as science. The report reviews the role of engineering in development, and covers issues including poverty reduction, sustainable development, climate change mitigation and adaptation. It presents the various fields of engineering around the world and is intended to identify issues and challenges facing engineering, promote better understanding of engineering and its role, and highlight ways of making engineering more attractive to young people, especially women.--Publisher's description.

This volume establishes a clear link between good nutrition and high productivity. It demonstrates that ensuring that workers have access to nutritious, safe and affordable food, an adequate meal break, and decent conditions for eating is not only socially important and economically viable but a profitable business practice, too. Food at Work sets out key points for designing a meal program, presenting a multitude of "food solutions" including canteens, meal or food vouchers, mess rooms and kitchenettes, and partnerships with local vendors. Through case studies from a variety of enterprises in twenty-eight industrialized and developing countries, the book offers valuable practical food solutions that can be adapted to workplaces of different sizes and with different budgets.