This book addresses ways the higher education community influences and is impacted by federal policy in the context of the decline of public confidence in higher education and budget constraints. A survey was conducted of 1,554 college and university presidents followed by 140 interviews with leaders in higher education. Results are analyzed in…

This essay critiques the way in which state accountability schemes reify aggregated achievement test scores and help undercut the meanings that inform properly rural sorts of education. The contemporary phenomenon of accountability is examined, along with its relation to the threatened meanings of rural life, the identity of the rural victims of…

This volume of essays focuses on textbooks in developing nations of the world. Issues of concern are textbook supply in the schools, national policies and their relation to textbook supply and content, the role of national and international agencies in textbook publication and control, and the influence of textbooks on classroom practice. The…

This report outlines current research on teacher policy, summarizes legislation from the 1997 legislative session, and forecasts teacher policy trends for 1998. The report is intended to assist states in examining and improving teacher policies by providing information about how other states have approached the issue. Current research demonstrates…

Thirteen authors reflect on different ideas of communitarianism and citizenship and on the ways those ideas find application in the fields of education, politics, and social welfare. Looking beyond communitarian ideology, the volume offers a more detailed discussion of citizenship in contemporary society. The essays are: (1) "Beyond…

This is the fifth report prepared by the Center for Education Reform (CER) evaluating the capacity and flexibility of state laws promoting charter schools. Three primary factors were evaluated in preparing charter-school quality rankings by state. The center finds that the establishment of multiple sponsoring authorities, in addition to local…

Increasing public dissatisfaction with the cost and quality of higher education is creating pressure for fundamental change. Higher education is not as certain to produce a higher standard of living as it used to be, and costs are rising faster than the rate of inflation. Declining state contributions to higher education have shifted the financial…

Current teacher testing is a symptom of what is wrong with American public education, rooted in invalid generalizations of method from one discipline to another. America's top educational policymakers are rarely educators, instead tending to be political leaders. The Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) has produced a…

This paper is the result of an intensive case study by an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) review team, whose purpose was to investigate early childhood education and care (ECEC) in the United States, 1 of 12 countries participating in the OECD review between 1998 and 2000. The paper draws on information provided by a…

In many areas of education, Chicanos and Latinos have the lowest achievement and attainment of the major ethnic groups in the United States. In contrast to various deficit theories, this book argues that the Hispanic educational experience and outcomes can only be understood in relation to the development of U.S. and global capitalism and the…

This annual publication (published separately in English and Spanish) examines political, social, environmental, and educational issues concerning indigenous peoples around the world during 1999-2000. Part 1 highlights news events and ongoing situations in specific countries in nine world regions: the Arctic, North America, Mexico and Central…

Small schools offer many advantages and their numbers are increasing, but current funding practices often do not meet their needs. This digest suggests strategies that can help small public schools, particularly small rural schools, redress funding inequalities and get the resources they need. Three basic strategies for improving resources at…

This paper describes the recent policy history of reading education, its place on the public policy agenda, and the research that relates reading policy to reading instruction. Part I of the paper provides a brief recent history of federal education policy, which aims to ensure equity. Part II revisits compensatory education and describes systemic…

Articles in this journal discuss the role of community colleges in educating welfare recipients since President Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996. Under the new legislation, a new block grant, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), was launched in July 1997, eliminating…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) established 2 flexibility demonstration programs--State- and Local-Flex--that allow up to 7 states and 80 school districts to redirect up to 100 percent of certain NCLBA programs funds. The General Accounting Office (GAO) was asked to determine factors that affect states' and districts' decisions about whether…