The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandate has pushed the debate on how to educate the limited English proficient child to the forefront. Thus, criticism abounds in several states surrounding the effectiveness of bilingual education programs in our nation's public schools. The opponents state that bilingual education is not working; it is an…

This paper reviews the history of how trustees are selected to boards of public institutions of higher education and offers specific recommendations to improve the selection process. The paper notes a trend toward an overall decline in the effectiveness of boards and reports that the major factor identified in several recent analyses is the…

This guide explains the regulations that govern Head Start staff's political participation and lobbying activities in an effort to assist staff in becoming politically proactive and strengthen the voice of Head Start. The guide begins with an introductory section which describes the regulations for political involvement with which Head Start…

Almost unnoticed, growing numbers of working poor people are entering politics at the community level in dozens of major cities in Texas and across the United States. These people are unusual because they view politics as a long-term process to build relationships, new institutions, and humane communities. This book tells the story of a new kind…

Many Canadian provinces are looking to Alberta for guidance about charter schools. This case study examines the closure of one charter school to identify the obstacles other schools may face. This study uses critical policy analysis and the "politics of interpretation" to examine the political context of educational policy issues. While…

Two features limit the value of legislatively mandated high-stakes tests such as Alaska's Benchmark and High School Graduation Qualifying Exam as accountability tools in the current standards-driven environment. First, the sheer numbers of tests administered have led to a reliance on multiple choice and short-answer questions, with only minimal…

This article addresses a number of common confusions that characterize much of the debate about the status of American Sign Language (ASL) as a foreign language option. The article begins with a broad overview of the nature and characteristics of different kinds of signing as they are used in the deaf culture and between the deaf and hearing…

After Britain returned control of Hong Kong to China in July 1997, a new language policy required all schools to switch their teaching medium from English to Chinese in September 1998. Those schools that wanted to continue to teach in English had to obtain special permission. Only 100 of 400 schools successfully obtained such permission. This…

Intended to provide background information to state leaders as they play an increasingly visible role in reading programs, this policy brief notes that too many students are not reading at grade level and apparently are not receiving adequate opportunities to catch up to their peers. The brief is in 7 sections. The first is "How Well Are Students…

This book is for administrators, teachers, policymakers, educational reformers, and community leaders who are concerned with achieving greater social justice in education. It provides an in-depth understanding of the challenges to schools brought about by lingering views of race, gender, ethnicity, and class, showing how the inequalities of the…

Since 1994, at least three children of migrant workers have been maimed in Georgia packing houses while waiting for their parents to finish work. In this personal narrative, a former migrant educational outreach worker describes one such incident in May 1996, in which a 2-year-old lost his hand to the machinery of a Georgia onion packing shed. The…

Written by major players in the small schools movement, this collection of essays points to the ways that school restructuring strategies connect to the ongoing pursuit of social justice. Activists, scholars, practitioners, and theorists review how and why small schools work for students, provide thick descriptions of the small schools strategy in…

This book examines the effects of reforms in some countries' national education systems, noting that far from improving education, they have often made it more difficult for teachers to do a good job in the classroom. It focuses on how teaching has changed and continues to change in England's educational reform climate. The book argues that many…

A discussion of bilingualism, biliteracy, and the educational context of Sub-Saharan Africa has three areas of focus. The first is the argument that the school environment is a complex one for bilingual education, biliteracy, and socialization generally in this multiethnic area, and that ideology and literacy issues feed language politics at…

This publication is part of a series that reprints articles on a range of thematic issues published in the "Canadian Journal of Higher Education." This collection focuses on the relationship between the Canadian university and the state. After a preface and an introduction, an introductory monograph, "University-Government Relations…