This research is a synthesis of studies carried out in 18 countries to identify contributions of education for sustainable development (ESD) to quality education. Five common questions were used for the interviews in each country to solicit education leaders and practitioners’ views on the outcome and implementation of ESD. The analysis revealed that major themes repeated across the 18 studies, showing that ESD contributes in many ways to quality education in primary and secondary schools. Teaching and learning transforms in all contexts when the curriculum includes sustainability content, and ESD pedagogies promote the learning of skills, perspectives and values necessary to foster sustainable societies. The research also identified the need to integrate ESD across all subjects, to provide professional development for teachers to ensure ESD policy implementation and to adopt ESD management practices to support ESD in the curriculum in order to broaden ESD across countries.

The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) is a nationally representative, internationally comparable household survey implemented to examine protective and risk factors of child development in developing countries around the world. This Introduction describes the conceptual framework, nature of the MICS3, and general analytic plan of articles in this Special Section. The articles that follow describe the situations of children with successive foci on nutrition, parenting, discipline and violence, and the home environment addressing two common questions: How do developing and underresearched countries in the world vary with respect to these central indicators of children's development? and How do key indicators of national development relate to child development in each of these substantive areas? The Special Section concludes with policy implications from the international findings.

This article uses the data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2000 to examine whether the influence of family background on educational achievement is sensitive to different measures of the familyÕs socio-economic status (SES). The study finds that, when a multidimensional measure of SES is used, the family background has a stronger influence on achievement across countries than if the simpler measure of SES is used. The new measure, which incorporated aspects of parental occupation, education and cultural resources, was not biased towards more wealthy nations, Western nations, or urban population. However, when a proxy of wealth was included in the measure of SES, this reduced the other measured effects of family background on achievement in many countries.Re´sume´-LÕINFLUENCE DE LÕARRIÈ RE-PLAN FAMILIAL SUR LÕACCOM-PLISSEMENT DE LÕÉ TUDIANT : DÉ VELOPPER UN SYSTÈ ME DE MESURE PLUS SENSIBLE -cet article utilise les donne´es du Programme International pour le Suivi des Acquis des É le`ves (PISA) 2000 pour examiner si lÕinfluence de lÕarrie`re-plan familial sur lÕaccomplissement en matie`re e´ducative est sensible aux diffe´rentes mesures du statut socio-e´conomique de la famille (SSE). LÕe´tude constate que, lorsquÕon utilise une mesure multidimensionnelle de SSE, lÕarrie`re-plan familial a une influence plus forte sur lÕaccomplissement a`travers les pays que si la mesure plus simple du SSE est employe´e. La nouvelle mesure, qui incorporait des aspects du me´tier parental, de lÕe´ducation et des ressources culturelles, nÕe´tait pas pre´dispose´e en faveur des nations plus riches, des nations occidentales, ou de la population urbaine. Cependant, quand une mesure de richesse e´tait incluse dans les donne´es, ceci re´duisait dans beaucoup de pays les autres effets mesure´s de lÕarrie`re-plan familial sur lÕaccomplissement. Resumen -LA INFLUENCIA DEL TRANSFONDO FAMILIAR SOBRE EL RENDIMIENTO DE LOS ESTUDIANTES: DESARROLLO DE UN SISTEMA DEEVALUACIÓ N MÁ S SENSIBLE -Este artı´culo utiliza los datos del programa internacional de evaluacio´n de estudiantes (pisa) del an˜o 2000 para comprobar si los valores de influencia del trasfondo familiar cambian con las diferentes formas de medir el status socioecono´mico (SES). segu´n este estudio, cuando se utiliza una medicio´n multidimensional del ses, el trasfondo familiar muestra una mayor influencia sobre el rendimiento, a lo largo de los diferentes paı´ses, que cuando se aplica una medicio´n del ses ma´s simple. el nuevo sistema de medida, que ha incorporado aspectos como ocupacio´n, educacio´n y nivel cultural de los padres, no beneficia a las naciones con mayor bienestar, ni a las naciones occidentales ni a la poblacio´n urbana. sin embargo, la inclusio´n en los datos de una comprobacio´n del bienestar redujo en muchos paı´ses los valores relacionados con los efectos del trasfondo familiar sobre el rendimiento de los estudiantes.Zusammenfassung -DER EINFLUSS DES FAMILIENHINTERGRUNDS AUF SCHÜ LERLEISTUNGEN: ZUR ENTWICKLUNG EINES SENSIBLEREN NOTENS...