A B B O T T L. FERRISS

SELECTIONS FROM S I N E T -- The Social Indicators Network News

(No. 2)

(Received June 25, 1990)

O E C D Moves Toward C o m m o n Concepts in Educational Data

Semmering-Panhans, Austria: Concluding several years' effort, the OECD assembled representatives from 22 nations here September 18--20, 1989, to review the progress of five working groups in developing concepts and approaches for comparable reporting of educational indicators. The conference concluded the exploratory phase of the project that began in Washington, DC, in November 1987. Phase Two of the work will continue with the development of specific proposals for indicators of education. The five "networks" within which the work has been conducted are: 1, enrollments, career paths and school leavers; 2, outcomes of education; 3, ecology of school; 4, costs and resources; 5, attitudes and expectations. Participants discussed the uses of educational indicators at the national and regional levels, at the school level, and reviewed models, theories and concepts for international educational indicators. The International Conference on Cross-National Education Indicators is a project of the Education and Training Division, OECD, 2, rue Andre Pascal, 75775 Paris CEDEX 16, France; tel. 45 24 92 77 or 45 24 92 29. Roberto Botanni is project coordinator. The OECD Education Division has initiated a newsletter, INESN E W S , which gives "information about developments within the OECD on several activities concerning the evaluation and monitoring of the performances of educational systems." Two issues now have been released. Papers relevant to the development from the First National Conference, edited by Tim Wyatt and Alan Ruby of the Australian Conference of Directors-General of Education, Sydney, 1988, have been published. Also mentioned in I N E S - N E W S was Youth Indicators 1988, issued by the Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Education, 1988. Social Indicators Research 24:415--418, 1991. 9 1991 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

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A report of the Washington Conference, Nov. 3--6, 1987, edited by Larry Suter is available (CS88-34, August 1988). Address: National Center for Education Statistics, OERI, U.S. Dept. of Education, Washington, DC 20208. The report gives names of participants of the initial meeting, in Washington, titles of presentations, etc.

An Ethical Indicator: Infants Abandoned at Birth to Foster Care by the State Warsaw, Poland: Jan Winiecki (The Institute of Labor Economics) has published an article on the ethical order, an extract of which mentions the following ethical indicator: "Soviet Economic Weekly published an article revealing that in large Russian cities almost 30 percent of newborn babies are not taken from maternity hospitals by their parents but are left to be cared for by state foster homes (data from Ekonomicheskuya Gazeta, 1987, No. 52)." The author sets forth a thesis that the communist system destroyed the ethical order and the leaders are now alarmed over the "seriously impaired moral order." He advocates a "break with the past" in order to "restore standards of behavior amongst those who currently shirk, steal and cheat but with an uneasy conscience." He says "changes in the economy cannot work efficiently in an ethical void." Winiecki's article, "Ethics and Politics to the Rescue of Neo-Classical Economics?" Economic Affairs, April 1989 (s from the Institute of Economic Affairs, 2 Lord North St., London SWlP 3LB; tel. 01 799 3745.) The preceding exerpted from: Jan Winiecki, "Soviet Reform Required Ethical Revolution," Social Inventions, no. 16 (1989), published by the Institute for Social Inventions, 24 Abercorn, PI., London, NW8 9XP, United Kingdom; tel. 01 229 7253.

Social Reports Bibliography Lanham, Maryland, USA: Lucy Duff (librarian) has compiled "Social Reports: A Bibliography of National and International Documents"

FROM SINET

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which includes some 140 references, annotated with keys characterizing the type of document, the special types of indicators it contains, and keys identifying subject-matter. The 32-page bibliography was prepared from library holdings of the Center for Coordination of Research on Social Indicators, Bureau of Social Science Research, Washington, DC, and from references in SINET. It is available for cost of reproduction and mailing: US $5.00 for delivery within U.S. and Canada, and US $7.00 for foreign delivery. Address: Ms. Lucy Duff, 9210 Fowler Lane, Lanham, MD 20706, U.S.A.

International Conference on Social Reporting

Berlin, West Germany: Assembled by Wolfgang Zapf and Ronald Habich (Working Group on Social Reporting, WZB, Berlin) an International Conference on Social Reporting met September 18--20, 1989, with participants from the Netherlands, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Sweden, Canada, U.S.A., East Germany, Spain, Australia, West Germany, Switzerland. Some 13 papers were presented under the topic, Social Indicators Research and Social Reporting, which included reports of social reporting efforts in W. Germany, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Sweden, E. Germany, and reports of research underway. A roundtable discussion reviewed some of the applied features of social reporting. A session of nine papers concerned Welfare Research and Quality-of-Life Surveys on topics of subjective well-being, happiness research, welfare research, life-styles, science policy and future outlook. Papers of the Conference are to be published by WZB under editorship of Habich. Address: Wissenchaftszentrum Berlin fiir Sozialforschung (WZB), Reichpietschufer 50, D-1000 Berlin 30, Federal Republic of Germany.

International Social Survey Program Now Includes Eleven Nations

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.: Tom W. Smith (National Opinion Research Center) has announced additions to the consortium of survey research organizations collaborating in cross-national research in the Interna-

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tional Social Survey Program. Participating countries and research organizations responsible in each country include: Great Britain, SCPR; West Germany, ZUMA; Australia, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian Nat. Univ.; Austria, Inst. for Sociology, Graz Univ.; Italy, Eurisko; Hungary, Tarki; The Netherlands, Social and Cultural Plan Bureau; Ireland, Social Science Research Center, Univ. College; Israel, Tel Aviv Univ.; Norway, Norwegian Social Science Data Service; U.S~., NORC, Chicago. Founded in 1984, ISSP has conducted annual surveys on the following topics: the role of government, social support and networks, social inequality, changes in the family, work orientations, and others. Replication of some of these topics is planned. For availability of data sets, contact: Sharon Witherspoon, SCPR, 35 Northampton, SQ., London, EC 1V OAX, England.

(Editors Note: Readers interested in contributing news items to this department should address them to: SINET, P.O. Box 24064, Emory

University Station, Atlanta, GA. 30322, USA.)