Discusses school superintendency behavior and educational improvement and quality through a review of three books: "Keepers of the Flame: Contemporary Urban Superintendents" (Theodore J. Kowalski); "Effective School District Leadership: Transforming Politics into Education" (Kenneth Leithwood); and "Leading to Change: The Challenge of the New…

"Connect" is an approach to family literacy in Scotland that recognizes that people have different literacies used in different life domains. It values home and community literacies and challenges the deficit perspective and dominant cultural and ideological patterns. (SK)

Discusses the current political situation in the United States and the ways in which literacy education, particularly reading education, has been socially constructed and politically situated in the last several years. Suggests that the policies educators are currently implementing will lead to a generation of teachers who pay homage to externally…

Reviews the knowledge-diffusion activities of colonial agricultural societies in western Australia from their foundation in 1831-1870. States that from 1829 to 1850 British settlers belonged to a society of free citizens, while from 1851-1867 the settlement changed to a convict colony. (CMK)

Discusses Jo Trowsdale's case for "Reconsidering the Role of the Artist in Initial Teacher Training (ITT)" (RIDE, 2002). Notes that it argues for the centrality of engaging with different models of practice and different kinds of artists as a way of creating more equitable arts education experiences for all young people. Considers recent…

Describes how the University of Virginia is beginning to fall apart, while the recently completed Darden Graduate School of Business Administration is moving toward self-sufficiency and is the sign of things to come in the privatization of public higher education. In its eagerness to enter the top ranks of business schools, Darden has made the…

Educational reform in Finland shifted from 1960s welfare state ideology, which viewed education as an instrument of social justice and equal opportunity, to the 1980s neoliberal ideology of competition and individualism, to the economic depression of the early 1990s, which resulted in a new definition of educational equality. (Contains 20…

Makes the case that the narrow approach to accountability mandated in North Carolina hinders the realization of the governor's plan for education reform. States that school cultures shaped by a testing environment do not support what is recognized as good teaching. (SK)

Examines how the introduction of the Cleveland voucher experiment in 1995 affected the administration and leadership of Cleveland's public schools. As of summer 2001, the program has produced virtually no visible effects. Results suggest that choice-based reform may not spur improvement in urban school systems, at least in the short term or when…

Recodes metaphors in Apple's "Educating the 'Right' Way: Markets, Standards, God and Inequality," as resources for rewriting ways of globalizing education. Suggests that the radical right is imposing its market-driven, evangelical, reductionist project on educational globalization. These efforts frame the work of real-world teachers…

Focuses on a brief intervention with school counselors during a nation-wide political trauma, the recent Intifada in Israel. An emergency field intervention program for Israeli school counselors was developed, aimed at addressing their personal and professional concerns to reduce or prevent burnout and enhance empowerment. Presents the rationale…

Suggests that by taking a realistic approach to the subject matter, social studies teachers can increase their chances of having a positive effect on students. Discuses how to make the subject matter relevant and considers the role of the mass media. (SG)

Presents an account of the authors' shared explorations and efforts to name some important variables or criteria that bear on the question of whether or not to invite students to write in a home dialect or language. Offers conclusions in the form of a list of 10 variables to consider. (SG)

Surveyed university faculty shortly after the September 11 attacks to investigate how they engaged with their students following these events. Classrooms became safe spaces for expressions of emotional vulnerability and public grieving. Some professors offered themselves as moral guides, striving to forestall the expression of hostility. Others…

Investigated factors predicting districts' abilities to generate cross-sector support for reforms, using New Jersey's 1998 Supreme Court decision mandating the implementation of comprehensive reforms in its 30 poorest districts and exploring the extent to which community support impacted willingness to embrace reforms and perceptions of resource…