This paper presents a critical policy analysis of how anti-political education reforms impact arts education. I consider examples of educational policies--both within arts education and outside the arts--to analyze how arts education may be impacted by anti-politics. I argue that many arts education policy outcomes can be understood as indirectly…

In the United States (US), an increase in standardization, quantification, competition, and large-scale comparison--cornerstones of neoliberal accountability--have been accompanied by devices of transparency, through which various forms of school data are made available to the public. Such public reporting, we are told by politicians and education…

In this keynote address, the author shares his reflections on politics, economics, and testing. He focuses on assessment and accountability and begins with some data from large scale written educational testing, "circa 1840". The author argues that people's penchant for accountability and their appetite for standardized testing are, in…

Thomas Jefferson was one of the main architects of that famous "new world" state which rejected the rule of kings and queens in favor of a government by the people. He argued vigorously that in order to make such a governmental structure work, a strong system of public education was a basic prerequisite. Given the various problems which…

In the run-up to the 2000 presidential election, candidate George W. Bush and his advisors made a strategic decision to appropriate educational rhetoric generally associated with Democrats and the left. This decision helped Bush present himself as "different kind of Republican" and a "compassionate conservative" and to…

The presumed November match-up produced by the long presidential-primary season offers contrasting approaches to K-12 policy, along with some common ground on the basics of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, and Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, his Democratic counterpart, both…

"Conversations With Principals: Issues, Values, and Politics" is a unique compilation of interviews with principals at the elementary, middle, and secondary levels. Unlike any other text in Educational Administration, this book allows students the unusual opportunity to experience the inner voice of principals as they discuss the many…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 propelled high stakes testing to an unprecedented level of significance. Decisions based on the results of such mandated assessments is flawed in that the tests are not an accurate measure of actual knowledge and neglect to address environmental, socio-cultural, and economic factors influencing student…