The Spellings Commission report calls for greater access to higher education for low- and moderate-income students, greater transparency in the way higher education works and greater accountability for producing results. These recommendations are all significant in their own right, but the three concepts also converge to provide powerful support…

This article scopes some of the key political elements in the higher educational use of the read/write web, or Web2.0 as it is commonly known. It investigates ways in which these tools can be used to enhance deliberative democracy, the associations between individuals and their capability for decision-making. The structuring of spaces in which…

Building faculty or professional learning communities is an idea that has come of age. This article describes work being done within the Brigham Young University (BYU)-Public School Partnership to form and sustain such communities across higher and public education and in ways consistent with the four aims of the Agenda for Education in a…

The meaning of equality has been radically altered since the Enlightenment. In the 18th century, equality acquired political and economic meanings specifically in the contexts of democracy and capitalism. Today, the context in which equality is understood and practiced is technology as our most immediate and compelling environment. Moreover, the…

The national presidential election, still in the primary stages, has galvanized the country like none since 1968. Sounding a chord with college students and generating on campuses a level of political passion and excitement the likes of which college presidents haven't seen for four decades, the election of 2008 is being figured in the press as a…

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in college access and with it, a growing concern about the debt incurred by students. Analysts on all sides suggest a variety of causes and solutions to this very complex problem. This paper presents a collection of informational items that can be seen as both disparate and connected. We can see…

This article addresses the continuing digital divide in public education, one that defines itself largely along geographic, socioeconomic, and cultural lines. The article refutes the idea that the digital divide is dwindling due to increasing access to technology within the United States, instead focusing on digital literacy and cultural barriers…

Job satisfaction is an important topic in teacher education research. Exploring the issue of teacher job satisfaction helps us gain a deeper understanding of teachers' mental state, such as their occupational attitudes, zeal for teaching, and work enthusiasm, which affects the quality of teaching and education. From an examination of teachers' job…

The sharp decline in voter participation among Canadian youth requires an examination of how our students are being prepared for democratic citizenship. Public schools, including programs falling under the purview of career education, provide the means to prepare learners for vocational, community, and political participation. In Canada, career…

There exists a significant yet unique level and magnitude of problems that immigrants of African descent have to grapple with in their efforts to settle down into their new American lives. This fact makes the continuity of the natal culture very difficult. However, in spite of their many problems, African immigrants never lose touch with their…

This paper argues that competency-based training in vocational education and training in Australia is one mechanism through which the working class is denied access to powerful knowledge represented by the academic disciplines. The paper presents a modified Bernsteinian analysis to argue that vocational education and training students need access…

This chapter takes the somewhat unorthodox stance that the central purpose of an introductory political science course is not to prepare students for future political science courses but rather to prepare them for a lifetime of democratic citizenship. It suggests that the way to do this is not by primarily teaching content but by offering…

This document supports the following positions on building community: (1) as a society, there is a lack of a conceptual framework to engage in moral discourse, and a lack of a clear understanding of the notion of democracy; and (2) to build "real" community requires a means to engage in moral discourse, a clear understanding of…

This document discusses the framework for civic education in Estonia. Objectives of civic education in Estonia come from the traditional beliefs of Estonian society, the new demands of social change, standards established by the Council of Europe, and experiences of neighboring countries. The main objective of civic education is to teach a new…

This book presents essays written by school reformers that discuss the reform movement and examine the partnership that inspired the creation of small, intimate school communities known as charters. They also reflect on the comprehensive changes that inform each charter and the personal and collective struggles to institutionalize these new…