"Education Matters" is the monthly newsletter of the Association of American Educators (AAE), an organization dedicated to advancing the American teaching profession through personal growth, professional development, teacher advocacy and protection. This issue of the newsletter includes: (1) The Desperate Need for an Education Stimulus:…

Due to the increased demands for accountability with the passage of the No Child Left Behind legislation signed in 2002 by President Bush, schools are required to use reading strategies and programs that are supported by scientific research. In Arizona state statute, ARS 15-704, the law outlines the requirements for Arizona school districts to…

This study examined opinions about some theoretical and practical tenets of bilingualism and bilingual education, as well as about the instructional use of English language learners' (ELLs) native languages in the classroom, of 77 teachers from Spain working in California as part of the California/Spain Visiting Teachers Program. In their…

This paper compares the personal background characteristics and voting behavior of Wisconsin state legislators in two legislative sessions separated by 40 years (1965-1966 and 2005-2006). The study uses cluster analysis to graphically display the differences in the voting patterns of the two sessions, an indicator that can be used in this and…

Social work educators have long struggled with making policy practice real "more", especially to micro-oriented students (Sundet & Kelly, 2002). The decision case method can generate excitement about social policy advocacy while educating students about current advocacy work, particularly if the case involves state or local efforts to influence…

John Kenneth Galbraith proposed a test for the "good society" that deals directly with the financing of education. The Arizona Constitution may require that the legislature establish and maintain a "general and uniform" public school system, but, as the author argues in this article, the chronicle of the school funding cases in…

The "Report to the Legislature: School Leadership Academies Training Initiative" is submitted pursuant to Chapter 61 of the Acts of 2007, line item 7061-941. In FY 08, the legislature appropriated $1 million to support the second year of a program to develop and implement School Leadership Academies for principals and superintendents to…

It is recommended that the Coordinating Board for Higher Education approve the Curriculum Alignment Initiative (CAI) report, with recognition of the dynamic nature of competencies. It is further recommended that the board direct the Commissioner of Higher Education to make the CAI Report available online to interested government agencies and…

This article analyzes the epistemological aims and justification of character education legislation passed by the North Carolina General Assembly. I take this specific state law as representative of the broader national trends in the character education movement. I primarily use the work of Richard Rorty as the theoretical lens for the analysis…

In this article, the authors seek to contribute to the growing engagement with the school-prison nexus by considering two, perhaps less obvious, factors that implicate schools in the business of the prison industrial complex (PIC)--the examples of gentrification and sex offender registries. By unpacking some of the rhetoric that surrounds…

Problem: Since abolition of slavery, the United States has struggled to recognize people of color, specifically African-Americans, as equal citizens worthy of equal education. For several generations, within the curriculum of American schools, students have been taught the narrative of American History with a Eurocentric perspective. However, the…

This research examined the funding request process whereby higher education institutions seek financial support from state government. The study tested whether a model based on state goals and priorities for higher education could distinguish a funded request from an unfunded request. The research was qualitative and followed a comparative case…

This handbook is designed to help teacher education students as they learn about the teaching profession and their responsibilities as a student taking teacher preparation course work. It is hoped that the handbook helps them to avoid delays and roadblocks in the pursuit of their goal to become a certified teacher. Since there are several degree…

This article presents the state education finance and governance profile of Mississippi. Mississippians compose 0.95% of the total U.S. population, and the average density of the state is 60.7 people per square mile. In terms of education finance, the property tax is the sole form of local revenue for public education in Mississippi. In 1997, the…

This article presents the state education finance and governance profile of Tennessee. The 17th largest state, Tennessee is home to 2.01% of the nation's inhabitants. Funding of K-12 education in Tennessee is accomplished via a formula known as the Basic Educational Program (BEP). This plan primarily utilizes school district enrollment numbers to…