The open-classroom movement originated in British public elementary schools after World War II. American educators who adopted the trend viewed informal education--or, as they came to call it, open classrooms or open education--as an answer to both the American education system's critics and the problems of U.S. society. Open classrooms' focus on…

Supplemental Educational Services, mandated by NCLB as an option for students in low-performing Title I schools, has just completed its fourth implementation year, and a number of solid research reports on the Federal program are now available. This commentary reviews the political background to the out-of-school tutoring program, the for-profit…

In this article, the author begins to trace the concept "scientifically based research" in federal legislation, in the Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, and in the reports of several National Research Council committees. She also discusses how this concept has produced a certain "scientism" that has been deployed to…

Gloria Anzaldua's mestiza consciousness has been celebrated by critics of diverse methodologies and applied to discussions of hybridity, borders, and difference around the world. Lost in these wide and varied applications are the conquest and rape, and the regulation of national and individual boundaries, that are the historical origins of…

Religious education (RE) has often found itself at the centre of debates about education's role in promoting social cohesion in contemporary multi-religious societies. The paper considers RE's relationship to religious plurality within the broader context of politics of curriculum and debates on pluralism. Drawing upon the recent works on the…

In the Soviet Union, the decade of the 1930s saw a remarkable rate of educational expansion, as state schools enrolled millions of pupils in higher proportions and for longer periods of time than ever before. Much of this expansion occurred in the "non-Russian" regions, where the native language of children and thus the primary language…

This article traces "race" policy and practice in Britain and flags up seminal moments from the 1960s onwards. Although settlement of Asian, Black and other minority ethnic immigrants can be traced back to 1948 with the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush from the Caribbean, it is in the 1960s that "race" became most visible in…

This plenary address from the AAUP's annual meeting says that it is time to clear away the obfuscating rhetoric and emphasize the urgency of this basic democratic principle. Michael Berube argues that not only is academic freedom under attack, but that what the society is now dealing with is a coordinated program of obfuscation about just what…

In this article, I argue that the enacted curriculum in the United States of America is driven by a politics of domestication--a negative process of acculturation by which individuals are required to conform uncritically to established norms in a community of practice, and by which they are prevented from using their own craft and/or professional…

This article discusses the issue of trust in the education system. What is different about the issue of trust in the education system is the assault upon it, sometimes overt but most often subtle. There is a difference between strong criticism and willful manipulation. The nation's schools are responding to the former--perhaps too slowly for…

Modern politics become personalized as individual characteristics of voters and candidates assume greater importance in political discourse. Although personalities of candidates capture center stage and become the focus of voters' preferences, individual characteristics of voters, such as their traits and values, become decisive for political…

The purpose of the present study was to investigate Cypriot teachers' and parents' attitudes towards, and understanding of, the educational policy of Greece-Cyprus Unified Education. The data of the study were collected through a 3-part questionnaire and an open question asking for attitudes towards, meaning and justification of the Unified…

A chronic shortage of early interventionists and special educators exists in rural areas. The authors argue that special rural knowledge and skills may be required for early interventionists and special educators to be satisfied and productive in rural areas. Both recruitment and retention of rural special educators can be challenging, leading in…

Although some factors seem to be moving to allow greater decertification of the school principal profession, other factors, moving in the opposite direction, call for greater oversight by government. Four factors - perceived shortage of principals, accountability and the changing role of principals, growing influence of the state over school…

In this article, the author comments on the article "An Ongoing Conversation", by Frederick Hess. The author points out that the increasing polarization of the public's views on public education serves us poorly and we need to revive the skill and will to engage in more thoughtful dialogue.