Reports on a review of brochures and catalogs from postsecondary institutions in the former East and West Germany. Finds that East German institutions emphasized regional-historical links, client orientation, and stylized over orientation; that West German institutions emphasize pluralism, public responsibility, and a "variety/fun"…

Analyzes important forms of adult education in Germany, France, and Spain in relation to the European process of political unification and its homogenizing impact on national systems of education. Finds that state-supported schools can still compete against the market-oriented institutions offering vocational education. (CFR)

In at least ten states, often those with the lowest public-college faculty salaries, higher-education leaders have made more-competitive faculty salaries a top legislative priority this year. Many of the proposals have encountered resistance from governors and state legislators who have other budgetary priorities or who feel that public-college…

Criticizes social justice policies of the Labour government in the United Kingdom because they promote formal equality in the schools without working for substantive equity in outcomes of education. Naive multiculturalism is an inadequate policy response to the institutionalized racism that pervades the contemporary education system. (SLD)

Examines the origins of Tennessee's Project Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) and explores what it was about Tennessee in the mid-1980s that fostered the development of this experimental approach to class size. Highlights the connection between the research world and the political world that resulted in the STAR project. (SLD)

Addresses functional behavioral assessment (FA) concerns within the context of speculation about the possible functions served by mandating the use of FA in 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Suggests that the nature of public policy may deserve as much attention as research findings. (Author/CR)

Considers the political and gender issues involved in the provision of trade training for girls in London (England). Focuses on the strategies adopted by the Women's Industrial Council in their campaign to provide trade training for girls and expounds that the Council intended to enhance the economic position of industrial women. (CMK)

Explores the criminalization of young people's alternative cultural spaces as a strategy of social and cultural control, a defense of mainstream cultural space and its boundaries. Contemporary social control, the emerging political economy of urban life, and the evolving connections of youth, crime, and cultural space are considered. (SLD)

This case study traces the formation of a school district profoundly affected by race, political, sociological, and economic factors by examining a district in Cincinnati (Ohio) from the turn of the century through the 1950s. The study confirms the relationship between economic participation and educational opportunities. (SLD)

Explores ways that the study of special educational needs have changed in the last decade and a half of educational policy-making. Focuses on key theoretical changes and shifts of emphasis in substantive concerns. Notes tendencies to allow social and political values to guide educational provision instead of psychological or sociological…

Urges audiologists and speech-language pathologists working in school settings to become involved in studies of treatment outcomes and clinical trials. (DB)

Provides three different accounts of a gender equity project in a grade 10 science class. Illustrates different rhetorical forms for representing research and different assumptions about gender, equity, pedagogy, and the representation of data. Contains 33 references. (DDR)

High-stakes tests seriously threaten excellence and national standards. Unchecked, they will stifle many excellent schools and drive gifted teachers from classrooms. Bad tests, used to make high-stakes decisions, will lead to unnecessarily low standards, undesirable educational practices, shortchanged students, and underprepared citizens.…

This article discusses social hierarchy and uses graduation exit exams to show how social class relations are manifest in school practice. After deconstructing the negative, ideas are put forward for reform and educators are urged to join in a movement to transform hierarchical and excluding relations in school and society. (Contains references.)…

School-effectiveness research (SER) has been criticized for being a socially and politically decontextualized body of literature that supports inequitable reforms. Critics rightly address several problems within the SER field: overclaiming (that furthers the Right's political/social agenda), continued undertheorizing, and inability to control…