This paper concerns the particular forms which school change and evaluation have taken in countries dominated by neoliberal ideology. Geographically its focus is particularly on the most powerful anglophone countries England and the US, whose politicians play leapfrog with each other, followed closely by Australia which always seems ready to imitate their worst initiatives. In particular, the paper highlights how paradigms known as School Effectiveness and School Improvement came together in the context of the marketisation of schooling in England. The paper concludes by looking at the damage which high-stakes evaluation does to human relationships and points to more fruitful possibilities for evaluating human development in schools.

Evaluation, Citizenship, Democracy, Policies, Privatization.