Given the global escalation of gaps between rich and poor, contemporary work in critical literacy needs to overtly question the politics of poverty. How and where is poverty produced, by what means, by whom and for whom and how are educational systems stratified to provide different kinds of education to the rich and the poor? Yet rather than…

Over the last thirty years, the idea of sustainable development has come to be seen in policy circles across the globe as a necessary and urgent response to a range of social and environmental issues that threaten both the integrity of the biosphere, and human wellbeing. Increasingly, education, and particularly higher education, is seen to have a…

Reviews data on (1) the adequacy and allocation of American educational resources; (2) students' achievement compared to foreign students today and American students in the past; (3) the impact of open versus traditional schools; and (4) public assessment of current education. Indicates recent declines in effort, achievement, attitudes, and…

Discusses the power that local school districts and schools exert over the eventual success or failure of state government initiatives. Analyzes three major hurdles that reform efforts must surmount at the district and school levels: affecting classroom instruction; eliciting a commitment of local resources; and becoming integrated into other…

Contemporary reforms lobby for deep changes in mathematics teaching and learning, yet classroom practice continues, in many places, to be as conventional as ever. This study examines how one mid-sized urban school district marshaled resources for change in mathematics instruction. The study involved a 3-year observation of a small group of…

Presents a case study of 95 elementary schools within a 50-mile radius of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to discern the extent to which elementary schools use local cultural/arts organizations to enhance teaching and learning. Concludes that most schools made use of available resources and that there is a need for a community "clearinghouse"…

This volume contains a series of papers written for a symposium entitled "Adult Education and Allocation Policy in Sweden." Intended to provide a broader framework for analyzing allocation policy in adult education, the first paper is organized around the assumption that the effects of allocation policy both on participants and society…

It is argued that studies of "school effects" must make a clear conceptual distinction between school and schooling as very different results may be obtained by research that does and does not maintain these conceptual and corresponding operational definitions. (Author/DB)

The education problems in New York City (and a number of other jurisdictions that face court financing challenges) are real and important. Many people would indeed be willing to put more money into New York City schools (or any poorly performing school for that matter) if they had any reason to believe that students' achievement would improve…

Describes a study based on data from a national survey of elementary and secondary school teachers that identified exemplary computer-using teachers and examined differences between exemplary and other computer-using teachers, including school environments, personal backgrounds, and teaching practices. Collegiality, school support, resource…