Forty years after its opening, Americans must reconsider the efficacy of a federal, Cabinet-level Department of Education. Rescinding agency status, eliminating duplicative, ineffective, and inappropriate programs, and re-organizing remaining programs under a restored Office of Education within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services…

Shena Simon (1883-1972), a leading English socialist and educationist, actively called for the reform of secondary education in the 1930s and 1940s in order to bring the ideal of 'equality of opportunity' into the English educational system. This paper explores the continuity and changes in Simon's proposed reforms in relation to her ideals of…

This essay discusses the contentious events leading to the decision by the University of California's Board of Regents to end affirmative action in admissions, hiring and contracting at the university in July 1995. This controversial decision provided momentum for California's passage of Proposition 209 the following year ending "racial…

Since the release and implementation of the Outline of the National Plan for Medium and Long-Term Education Reform and Development (2010-20), Sino-foreign cooperative education has achieved great progress, gradually entering a new phase of high-level model development. At the same time, the profound conflicts and issues accumulated over the years…

The 1998 Academic Senate for California Community Colleges paper Program Discontinuance: A Faculty Perspective presented issues of program discontinuance and addressed principles and key factors for effective faculty participation in the development of fair and equitable program discontinuance processes. In 2009, an Academic Senate resolution…

Three big-city districts--Chicago, Milwaukee, and New York--have terminated federal grants aimed at promoting performance-based compensation plans and professional development for teachers and principals. Overall, the 2010 Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grants to the three districts would have provided an $88 million payout over five years--nearly 7…

By most accounts, the position of German studies in the American academy is no longer secure. To a large extent, that is due to reasons beyond the control of individual faculty or departments, including the general crisis faced by the humanities and the diminished importance in the eyes of the public of literary criticism, a vital part of the…

In the past year, public colleges and universities across the country have been shrinking degree programs and terminating personnel--including tenured professors--in an effort to cope with budget cuts in higher education. The situation is not confined to a handful of mismanaged public institutions, as in the past. It is a national phenomenon and…

Traces the history of sociology at Washington University (Missouri) from 1906 to 1989 in relation to the decision to abolish the department. Maintains that this decision began in 1968. Defines the contours of the sociology department, including a discussion of prominent scholars, contending that the decision will harm the discipline in the long…

Sometimes a simple idea, such as selling gel bracelets that say "Libraries Matter" to raise money, can spark something much bigger. In this article, the authors explain how their Libraries Matter campaign grew beyond their own regional system to cover their whole state and eventually other points around the globe. This successful…

The development of free tuition policy at the City University of New York is traced, focusing on four phases of the policy cycle: initiation, implementation, evaluation, and termination. This study was intended to add to general models of the policy termination process now in circulation. (MLW)

This article examines the implementation of educational policy in a religious education program at a Los Angeles Catholic parish. It charts the elimination of Spanish-based classes ("doctrina") for Mexican immigrant children in favor of "English-only" instruction. The article offers insights into the politics of language use in everyday practice…

Summarizes the most important economic factors that have had an impact upon kindergartens in Kazakhstan in recent years. Provides city-specific data detailing the effects of the collapse of communism and the rise of market-oriented economic reform on kindergarten closures. Discusses policy responses to declining enrollments and school closures.…