Although the role of international organizations in the diffusion of education policy is widely acknowledged, their role in the articulation of policy ideas remains comparatively underresearched. This article addresses this gap through a case study on the role of the OECD in the construction of the School Autonomy with Accountability policy…

Educational outcomes for Black & brown students are the result of well-functioning school systems overwrought with top-down bureaucracy that stifle school-based leaders from generating school-based solutions. The dominant explanation is the growing power and influence of politically-driven school board members cut off from local, national, and…

A significant paradox of school autonomy is that it tends to constrain the autonomy of teachers, instead subjecting them to the increased controlling of their work, heightened monitoring, and greater accountability. This paper draws on interview data to show how teachers in accountability-driven and business-like schools face three different but…

School governance is a topic of general interest worldwide in educational research, and in recent years, it has also drawn widespread attention in China. In order to examine the problems faced in the process of promoting the modernization of school governance at Chinese primary and secondary schools, we conducted interviews with different…

Charter schools because of their entanglements with privatization remain one of the most publicly contested and controversial educational reform initiatives. Charter schools, in theory, are to balance autonomy and accountability in order to provide students with innovative learning environments and increased achievement on traditional academic…

The public charter school movement is premised on the exchange of increased autonomy for increased accountability. Individual schools are given more flexibility in their actions, and then must meet agreed-upon benchmarks of quality. If a school fails to fulfill the terms of its charter or achieve its stated goals, it can be closed. However,…

A governmentality ethnographic approach is adopted to examine the everyday making of school in Buenos Aires slums. By addressing events at the intersection of the life of school and of the neighborhood, in this article we problematize schooling -- how it is put together and the tensions that beset it on a daily basis. The notion of the self-made…

The ways in which Africanisation and decolonisation in the South African academy have been framed and carried out have been called into question over the past several years, most notably in relation to modes of silencing and epistemic negation, which have been explicitly challenged through the student actions. In a similar vein, Canada's…

The executive summary a case study of two authorizers--Denver Public Schools and the District of Columbia (D.C.) Public Charter School Board--both with strong outcomes in many areas and a high or growing charter enrollment. For each, it summarizes how their approach to authorizing has shaped the way they address the issues that arise as charter…

This report provides a case study of two authorizers--Denver Public Schools and the District of Columbia (D.C.) Public Charter School Board--both with strong outcomes in many areas and a high or growing charter enrollment. For each, it summarizes how their approach to authorizing has shaped the way they address the issues that arise as charter…

In 2009 the Los Angeles Unified School District passed the Public School Choice Initiative, which aimed to give students in the lowest performing schools educational options. LA Pilot Schools are one option students and their families have when choosing a school in LAUSD. These schools boast small size, autonomy, greater accountability,…

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) passed the Public School Choice Initiative in 2009, with the aim of providing students in the lowest performing schools educational options. LA Pilot Schools represent one alternative students and their families have when choosing a school within LAUSD. The mission of LA Pilot Schools is to provide a…

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) passed the Public School Choice Initiative in 2009, with the aim of providing students in the lowest performing schools educational options. LA Pilot Schools represent one alternative students and their families have when choosing a school within LAUSD. The mission of LA Pilot Schools is to provide a…

Central banking in the United States has a long and controversial history dating back to the earliest days of the republic. One of the most widely presented arguments against a central bank has been that the U.S. Constitution does not expressly grant the federal government power to charter a bank. Recently, this issue has received new scrutiny in…

Based on a comparison of school external evaluation processes in three countries (England, France and Switzerland), this article questions the possible quality turn in the governance of European educational systems. Using materials collected through qualitative methods (91 interviews, surveys of literature and observations) during a sociological…