This article analyses patterns of post 2000 governance in Israel's education system. Drawing upon literature on educational regimes, governance in neo-liberal societies (for example, the UK and the USA), law-based educational reform and policy analysis, this study sets out to inquire how Israel's system was governed with minimal legislation for 60…

During the past two decades, Taiwan's Ministry of Education has responded to globalization by restructuring school curricular, instructional, and decision making practices along western lines in an attempt to attain legitimacy on the world stage. As a result, Taiwanese principals, once kings within their schools, now must share power with other…

This autoethnography focuses on a study undertaken during the writers 15 month employment in a Muslim girls' school in the United Arab Emirates. The paper outlines a school improvement project in the Abu Dhabi Emirate and the imposition of an Australian curriculum on the schools involved in this program. The teachers in these schools were exposed…

Explores the appropriateness and synchrony between educational policy reforms imported into Hong Kong and central features of the host culture. Draws upon Geert Hofstede's cultural dimensions to provide a framework for identifying and matching Hong Kong's culture in juxtaposition with other cultures. Despite powerful Western influences, Hong Kong…

One of the most persistent challenges facing schools is how to respond to diversity as reflected in student race, gender, ethnicity, language, social class, and ability. This paper presents findings of a study that investigated how eight elementary schools undergoing restructuring responded academically to student diversity and how a school's…

Current proclamations to reform schools with national examinations related to a national curriculum are a reflection of ignorance and destined to fail. We need to address educational improvement with seriousness and complexity and reconsider workplace structure, curriculum character, teaching practices, and the forms used to appraise our quality…

"America 2000," President Bush's national strategy for "Reinventing America's Schools" is evaluated by 30 invited experts in the following papers: "Bottom-up Reform From the Top Down" (John E. Chubb); "Would Choice + Competition Yield Quality Education?" (Richard F. Elmore); "The Federal Education Role…

Through development of new mission statement and work of cross-disciplinary committees, Ohio high school adopted Coalition of Essential Schools principles while fashioning interdisciplinary Global Connections program. Aim was to maintain academic integrity and empower tenth graders to take an active role in shaping their world. Instructional goals…

The Czech Republic, England, France, Germany and Sweden differ culturally and economically, but they commonly exhibit general trends of decentralisation in the control of educational processes and outcomes. The present contribution looks at these five European countries as the venue for case studies in educational restructuring as well as…

Research increasingly supports the theory that individuals' epistemological beliefs--their fundamental views about knowledge and how it is acquired--influence academic learning, thinking, and problem solving. This paper presents preliminary findings of an ongoing study of educators from Chile and Missouri involved in research projects. A total of…

This case study of an inner-city teacher education program in Canada documents the tensions at work on a social reconstructionist academic staff attempting to produce a culturally relevant teacher education program. Staff members acknowledge the social and educational contexts in which they work while working for the long-term interests of their…

High schools today face problems of culturally diverse student populations, diversity of student learning styles, and a growing public perception that high schools do not adequately prepare their graduates for either work or college. This paper offers an extensive review of literature on block scheduling as well as a handbook for gaining support…

The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory has developed principles for culturally responsive education, along with a series of tools to help educators respond to the needs of students from a variety of cultural backgrounds. This selective listing of promising programs and practices has been developed to provide examples of professional…

Equity issues in education and the conditions out of which they emerge frame the chapters of this yearbook. These chapters analyze the arenas in which our society must seek greater equity, but they do not offer a blueprint, or any singular theory or body of knowledge. The chapters are: (1) "Community Education and Education for Community" (Colin…

The educational philosophies of W. E. B. DuBois and Carter G. Woodson position them as important figures in the development of critical pedagogy. At its core, critical pedagogy is a hegemonic theory that focuses on the manifestation of power in society, with particular attention to how certain cultural groups learn to accept, engage in, or resist…