Describes planning backwards, the Coalition of Essential Schools' educational policymaking strategy for high schools. The article discusses five possible dilemmas in planning backwards: outcomes or exhibitions, local or remote authority, rigid or flexible standards, apartness or authenticity in assessment, and curriculum scaffolds built of courses…

Compares theories of knowledge and strategies for cultural transmission in Pohnpei (Micronesia) and U.S. models of education. Extensive interviews and observations demonstrate the awareness of the people of Pohnpei of the potential of U.S. education to transform their traditional chiefdom hierarchy and the content and nature of traditional…

Uses social exchange theory as a conceptual framework for developing the sociological imagination. Explains this counters a trend toward an emphasis on social forces as behavioral determinants and the omission of values in the classroom. States exchange theory emphasizes how individual action collectively changes the social structure. Applies…

Discusses ways of approaching text and textbooks as embodiments of a larger process of cultural politics, focusing on the analysis of the relationships involved in their production, contexts, use, and reading. Newer forms of analysis that emphasize the politics of how students actually create meanings around texts are reviewed. (SLD)

Describes a study of the challenges to female university students at Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands in 1987 and 1988. Female students were critical of their studies, although most completed their degrees. The university teacher represents a gatekeeper to the academic community holding knowledge as a key resource. (JB)

Compares what 15 white women from Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) and 15 African-American women from rural backgrounds remember about being in school for what it tells about the relationships among gender, knowledge, and power. The distinct memories of teachers' pets illustrate the ways schools can influence self-concepts and social roles. (SLD)

Argues that the power arrangements existing in schools before integration were the same as those existing after integration, with only the pathways of articulation different. One modality supporting segregation was replaced with another; both were supported by the discursive practice of grouping students by native intelligence. (SLD)

Examined the emergence of Runyakitara as a new language in Uganda in the 1980s. The formation of Runyakitara through the realignment of four Western Bantu varieties illustrates the potential for the use of language as a resource in ethnic competition. Discusses the construction of Runyakitara in the context of the current political situation in…

Investigated the power relationship between cooperating and student teachers. Data from student journals, classroom observations, field-experience artifacts, seminars, and informal conversations indicated that the power relationship was productive for participants. Results highlight the importance of prehistories and personal narratives in…

The police, court officials, social workers, and the public in general perceive street children negatively: their behavior is deemed deviant. This paper examines the concept of deviance as a label placed on the powerless by those in positions of power. (Author)

The culture of fear in sanction-oriented schools hinders collaboration across differences in race, color, and culture. Strategies for encouraging active parent involvement include listening, supporting teacher leadership, inviting parents to help teachers develop coherent education goals, focusing on curriculum and instruction, and acknowledging…

Interviews with cooperating teachers investigated their beliefs about the student teaching triad. Results indicated that in the power hierarchy, cooperating teachers were at the apex, student teachers were second in power, and pupils third. When university supervisors visited, they moved to the apex, with pupils out of the triad. The paper…

Discusses the implications raised by incorporating a feminist perspective into various stages and methodologies of student projects. These include choice of topic, choice of research methods, emancipatory role of the project, dilemmas experienced during fieldwork, and interpretive and writing styles used during the research process. (MJP)

Nine poor, adolescent, Appalachian girls--six of them Black--participated in a program that used math and science attitudes and achievement as vehicles to enhance life opportunities. Interviews explored their aspirations, support groups, gender relations, self-concepts, and resistance efforts in school. Girls should be taught to recognize and…

An analysis of the 1998 California educational standards confronts the assimilationist ideology embedded in the push for standards and accountability in American education. The standards explicitly define "America" and"Americans" as White and Anglo, ignore Indigenous history and contributions of non-European cultures and women,…