This volume offers a critical examination of the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA), focusing on its origins and implementation, relationship to other international large-scale assessments, and its impacts on educational policy and reform at national and cross-national levels. Using empirical data gathered from a research…

Educators and policy makers confront challenging questions of ethics, justice, and equity on a regular basis. Should teachers retain a struggling student if it means she will most certainly drop out? Should an assignment plan favor middle-class families if it means strengthening the school system for all? These everyday dilemmas are both utterly…

This book, the first volume of the paperback versions of the "The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, Third Edition," takes a look at the field from a broadly theoretical perspective, and is composed of the Handbook's Parts I ("Locating the Field"), II ("Major Paradigms and Perspectives"), and VI ("The Future of Qualitative Research"). "The…

This publication, the first of a planned series, is intended to advance discussion by professionals and, hopefully, the public about education for adults--its purposes, control, and programs. Four essays are included, each with a distinct theme and purpose. However, all the essays relate to the major issues in adult education, national policy,…

This book presents 10 chapters covering issues in the reconstruction of special education in inclusive schools. The book's three parts focus on deconstructing and reconstructing the professions, optional metatheories of special education and disability, and optional theories of special education and disability. Five of the chapters are by Thomas…