The advent of educational policy debate and educational research in the first half of the twentieth century is part of the quest for respectability and influence in the social sciences. There was an increasing quest for "objective" methodologies and data as missionary societies, philanthropic foundations and governments sought reliable…

This paper examines the question of how social well-being, or quality of life, in Northern Ireland has changed through time from 1958 to 1998. After reviewing major economic trends and governmental policy affecting the region, we develop an overall measure of quality of life based on previous research into social well-being in Northern Ireland. We…

This article challenges the view that citywide referenda alone are an effective means of ensuring accountability for mayoral control. Through new empirical analysis of the referenda results in Boston and Cleveland, the article shows that rather than establish genuine democratic legitimacy, the referenda in fact mask strong class-based, and in…

This article uses interview and questionnaire data to examine how adult English as a second language (ESL) providers in rural Pennsylvania perceive community receptivity toward immigrants and the factors they believe foster or hinder receptivity and immigrants' integration. ESL providers' depictions of local responses to immigrants ranged from…

The main purpose of this paper is to discuss the political and strategic skills needed by library leaders in today's library environment. The discussion is based on a small scale research project focused on opinions of skills needed by library leaders. The survey involved a questionnaire of librarianship students and library practitioners as well…

In this article, we challenge dominant health and fitness discourses which stress individual responsibility in the attainment of these statuses. We examine the results of an empirical study exploring how a group of 15 Canadian immigrant youth, aged 12-17, discursively construct notions of health and fitness. Qualitative data were collected through…

In response to the oft-cited inadequacies of the policies and pedagogies of multicultural education, the Ontario Ministry of Education mandated that school boards develop equity and inclusive education policies, as specified in Policy/Program Memorandum No. 119 [2009 version]: "Developing and Implementing Equity and Inclusive Education…

This essay explores the role of UNESCO, the World Bank, and the US Agency for International Development as key international actors shaping teacher development in Palestine. The argument presented is that international influence, particularly through donor-funded projects, combined with limited capacity within the Ministry of Education and local…

In creating a society whose citizens have sustainable lifestyles, education for sustainable development (ESD) plays a key role. However, the concept of sustainable development (SD) has developed independently from the input of educators; therefore, ESD presents current teachers with many challenges. At this point, understanding how stakeholders in…

This dissertation examines how nomenclature and the act of naming shapes disciplinary identities for scholars and teachers of rhetoric and composition. The discipline is named differently by many of its members, sometimes called "composition studies," "writing studies," "composition and rhetoric," "rhetorical…

There is a need to connect workplace learning and essential skills to a larger domain of workplace learning in general. To do this, the contexts in which learning takes place, and the cultures of the actors and environments involved, should be taken into consideration. Although research on the direct effects of contexts and cultures on workplace…

We provide an expanded environmental scan to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) faced by education communities. Grounded in the literature, we identified 48 indicators and grouped them into 6 broad categories: (1) budget levels, (2) funding patterns, (3) community needs, (4) external economic conditions, (5)…

Today, with states' near-universal adoption of the Common Core State Standards, the political system has achieved that which was not possible less than 2 decades ago. Just why this is so remains unanswered. Some observers have attributed states' embrace of the standards to the substantial financial incentives that the federal government embedded…

This article explores how place matters in public school reform efforts intended to promote more equitable opportunities and outcomes. Qualitative case studies of three California middle schools' eighth grade math reforms and the resulting opportunities for Latino English learners are presented, using the conceptual frameworks of critical human…

This article explores the different meanings of "Europe" in Swedish history textbooks over the course of the 20th century. Utilising the concept of myth, this textbook analysis looks at how the older history of Europe, and Sweden in relation to Europe, had changed by the end of the century. In particular, it examines the way in which…