What would it take to truly close the vast opportunity gaps in pre-K-12 public education in the United States--far beyond the weak standard in common use of "adequacy" based on test scores? This report presents findings from the North Carolina part of a national costing-out study called the "Price of Opportunity," which seeks…

School choice is an increasingly important part of today's educational landscape and this timely volume presents fresh research about the competitive admissions policies of choice systems. Based on their investigation of a unique civil rights challenge to school choice admissions policies in politically and racially divided Buffalo, New York, and…

"Ghosts of No Child Left Behind" politically situates curriculum within a historically and critically informed context, to understand the structural forces that have contributed to the creation of a population of adolescents who read below a third grade level. The book then proposes a reconceptualization of literacy curriculum within a…

Schools have always been recognized as an integral part of the community and the challenge is to ensure this vital component of social infrastructure is delivered in such a manner that long term benefits for local children, families and the broader community are realized. The Western Metropolitan Region in Victoria has experienced rapid…

"Do nothing and all things will be done," or "Wait, time heals all wounds" may have been sound advice of the past for some distant, sparsely populated island. But failing to address economic issues and not providing health care for the sick were putting America on the verge of financial collapse and making it a land where people had to choose…

From 2002 to 2006 the Australian Government funded the Adult Literacy Research Program (ALRP), which was managed by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). The NCVER commissioned two projects to reflect on the research undertaken through the program. The first, the Adult Literacy Resource, brings together the key messages in…

Authentic political conversation entails identifying the work, bringing together stakeholders, providing information, framing questions, giving individuals a voice, being transparent, and acting on the values of the group's collective good. Through this process, we identify common core values and respond to the basic human need to be connected--to…

A comprehensive update of the classic study that delivers both a passionate plea and strategies for teachers, parents, and community organizers to give working-class children the same type of empowering education and powerful literacy skills that the children of upper- and middle-class people receive. The classic, indispensable guide for teachers,…

The purpose of The Arizona Long-Range Strategic Educational Technology Plan is to map the future of the "education support systems" necessary for Arizona's children to succeed in today's world. The plan details goals and strategies for policy makers, the State Board of Education, the State Department of Education, Institutions of Higher…

Much of what is mandated and touted as cures for school improvement are not research-based and in many instances, are doing more harm than any perceived good. This book examines all aspects of the present public school reform movement and explores how capitalism and the market system does not and cannot apply to public schools. Robert Brower…

The many advantages of preserving the nature of community schools is discussed in light of the development of voucher programs and reasons to oppose the voucher system are outlined. [This document originally appeared in the "IDRA Newsletter", however some accompanying charts and graphs may not be provided here.]

This Primer is intended to help individual citizens and community leaders and organizers (1) better understand the complex nature of decision making in democracy and (2) identify strategies for having a larger voice and impact. This publication is predicated and draws upon the author's 40 years of extensive and hands-on experiences in varied…

This book represents the most thorough exposition on the present understanding of the impetuses, debates, legalities, and effectiveness of school uniform policies that have rapidly entered the discourse of school reform in the United States. In it, David Brunsma provides an antidote to the ungrounded, anecdotal components that define the…

There have always been tests, but there have never before been so many! It is natural for parents and concerned citizens to wonder what is motivating this increase and to examine the many reasons why. Ever since there have been schools, teachers have used tests of various kinds to find out how well students are learning and if their instruction…

This book takes a critical view of both the far right and far left positions concerning higher education, arguing that both sides aim to indoctrinate students in specific cultural and political dogmas and are in fact engaging in "politics by other means," whereas the purpose of genuine education should be to foster critical thinking and…