Cultural difference is an important topic of discussion in second language education. Yet cultural difference is often conceptualized as fixed, objective, and apolitical based on an essentialist and normative understanding of culture. This article challenges such conceptualizations by examining and politicizing multiple and conflicting meanings of…

Canada is the second largest country in the world by area. With its diverse geophysical features and relatively small population density it is a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts of all types. In the Canadian outdoor adventure education field there is an awakened acknowledgement of the centrality of Native peoples that pervades its practice today.…

The aim of this paper is to critique the dichotomy between the legal regulation of disability discrimination in Australia, particularly in the State of New South Wales, and inclusion policy as espoused by public education authorities. It is argued that the law and inclusion policy are aiming at different outcomes. As a result, through legal…

Accountability in Chicago in the 1990s derived from progressive reform legislation adopted in 1988 and 1995. The Illinois General Assembly in 1988 passed the Chicago School Reform Act (P.A. 85-1418), which included a set of goals, a redistribution of the school district's resources, and a decentralization of decisionmaking to the school level. The…

The Anthropology Department at Western Michigan University has sponsored an annual archaeological field school since the mid-1970s. Over the past decade, students have worked with community and government organizations, learning to apply archaeological methods to real world problems to preserve and interpret significant heritage sites. They come…

This paper is the second of two (see pt. 1) that describe a six-part conceptual framework for designing and evaluating digital libraries for mathematics education in K-12 settings: information literacy, information organization, integrated learning, adoption of new educational standards, integration of pertinent changes in educational policy…

This community college-based case study describes and analyzes how a new mission and vision adopted by the college trustees was translated into a facility master plan. The vision is designed to serve the needs of the community and facilitate economic development, especially in the areas of health occupations, biotechnology and…

The article discusses the extent to which multiculturalism has had an impact in the emerging reforms in higher education in Brazil, against the backdrop of the rise of a new non-Conservative, Labour-oriented government whose political agenda is marked by a discursive stand against conservatism, neo-liberalism and neocolonialism. Building on a…

On June 27, 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in "Zelman v. Simmons-Harris" was promulgated by the justices. The case involved the constitutionality of Ohio's Pilot Project Scholarship Program, which provides tuition aid for certain students in the Cleveland City School District to attend participating public or private (religious…

An earlier version of this article was delivered as the Chair's Address at the Opening General Session of the CCCC Convention in New York, March 2003. I review the current mission and position statements of the organization by calling attention to the ways in which our current social and political climate challenges our ability to meet our goals…

Throughout the 20th Century, medicine and law set the professional standards by which all other professions came to be measured. Teaching fell short of the mark because teachers were not perceived as having much control over their professional lives. For example, the professions of medicine and law developed standards boards or associations to…

Family involvement in education often has been justified in terms of parental rights or positive educational outcomes. Such justifications are often cast as models and useful strategies to follow. Yet largely absent from the practical advice are the contextual dimensions that condition involvement in the first instance: namely, race, class,…

This article discusses the value and feasibility of carrying out evaluation research on teacher development and uses as points of reference the author's experiences in two countries, Sri Lanka and Mexico. In Sri Lanka, an evaluation study was designed to understand the effectiveness and costs of teacher development at the elementary level linking…

Analyzes the impact of recent policy developments in the USA associated with school accountability according to the best interests of the student. With the mandated implementation of the US federal law entitled the No Child Left Behind Act approaching, minimal attention has been afforded to the complex ethical dimensions associated with policies…

This paper provides a discussion of the role of school leaders in establishing democratic principles in a post-conflict society. Drawn primarily from the author's experiences in Kosovo, the paper briefly introduces the historical and contemporary socio-political context of the region, and then examines the role of school administrators in a…