Explores the roles that school psychologists theoretically might adopt as change agent. Analyzes data from a sample of practicing school psychologists to see the extent to which these roles are actually manifest in their orientations toward serving as change agent. Outlines techniques for school psychologists to learn to better adapt to political…

This article focuses on Bourdieu's contribution to the analysis and transformation of the field of education. It shows that, when closely examined, Bourdieu's writings on education reveal not only one but at least three competitive or complementary policy theories. There is a common principle to all of them, that is the invisibility of policy,…

In this article, the author analyzes public education, and whether America can survive without it. There is a deep sense in which the phrase "public education" is redundant: Education is public, above all in a democracy. To think of it any other way is to rob it of its essential meaning. For education is an essential public good addressed to young…

There are some commonalities among the successful leaders in education technology. They tend to be flexible and a little disrespectful of the status quo. They take risks, but they also know the politics of the situation and know how the game is played. Timing in leadership is as important as the ideas being proposed. One cannot always anticipate…

This note puts the research project which led to this Special Issue in the context of developments in and around environmental policy over the past two decades, from the perspective of someone closely involved. It links political and institutional problems over sustainable development to the changing role and authority of science in contemporary…

You can see it in their eyes--the hurt, the doubt, the humiliation, the embarrassment. They are "broken wing" superintendents, those who have hit the glass wall of rejection and failure. They flew, some with no warning, smack into the window pane of contract buyouts or termination. The high flyers have flopped from the sky, dazed onto the deck,…

Consistent with the intent of the original school-lunch program, created by Congress in 1946 to provide "nutritious agricultural commodities" to children, the major purpose of today's school-lunch program is to ensure that children, especially those from poor and low-income families, have nutritious food at school. Even as contentious and partisan…

The Chinese nationality is a great one, possessing a glorious tradition of patriotism. Patriotism is the banner that mobilizes and inspires the Chinese people to unite and struggle, a great force that moves the social history of the nation forward, and a common spiritual component of all of the country's nationalities. Now, the nation's people are…

The United States is undergoing rapid demographic change leading to growing racial, ethnic, religious and economic diversity in our classrooms. Our students can be sensitized to this growing diversity through exposure to the concept of social justice. The purpose of this article is to provide examples of how social justice issues can be included…

This article provides a detailed summary of the history and development of the German school system, from the birth of the modern German state to the present day. Through explaining various regional and national developments, shifts created by competing political ideologies, and the path of reform initiatives over time, this article illustrates…

This article seeks to link the dynamics of oil with the spread of English in the Arabian Gulf region. It argues that "oil" sustains certain social, economic, and political conditions that (a) provide a fertile environment for the expansion of English and that (b) disproportionately serve the economic interests of the English-speaking nations of…

Drawing on a recent ESRC-funded research project, this paper will explore some of the contradictory structural features of the National Literacy Strategy (NLS), which have helped shape its evolution over time, and reflect on some of the tension points which have arisen at different levels of implementation as the Strategy unfolds. In the process,…

Describes the landscape of public higher education governance in the states by assessing recent trends, reviewing the modest research literature on the politics of reform, reporting selective results from a recent national survey of higher education governance reform in the 50 states, and concluding with suggestions for framing future research on…

One of the tricky things we have to wrestle at present is whether or not we should believe what often sounds like good policy, policy that trumpets the involvement of those who are to be affected by it. Is "engaging with the local" to be taken seriously or not? Is the language of participation a linguistic sleight of hand or an indicator of a…

The supposed apolitical nature of mathematics is an institutional frame that functions to sustain specific power structures within schools. This paper disrupts the common assumption that mathematics (as a body of knowledge constructed in situated historical moments) is free from entrenched ideological motives. Using narrative inquiry, the paper…