Neglect of divergent cultural values and belief systems; perennial debates about moral, ethical, and legal questions; power struggles; and technically oriented initiatives have thwarted school-reform efforts. Initiating frequent policy changes to accommodate fads overlooks the slowness of change and the learning process in complex social…

For 27 years the Florida Atlantic University Florida International University Joint Center for Environmental and Urban Problems has made major contributions to issues associated with rapid urbanization in southern Florida. Maintaining political support, both in the community and within the two universities, has been crucial to sustaining…

Uses data from 54 urban school districts to test hypotheses explaining the integration of computer technology into the classroom. Finds no statistically significant effects of funding on the provision of computer-assisted learning, but a higher percentage of black students reduces the percentage of district students receiving computer-assisted…

Discusses the impact of the troubles in Northern Ireland on the psychological and social well-being and school lives of youth. Although some have suffered great trauma, recent research highlights the resilience of young people exposed to the stress of political conflict. For the majority of youth growing up in Northern Ireland, the future may be…

Four levels of authority within the educational decision-making structure in seven European countries and states for primary and lower secondary education are analyzed, and results are presented from a study of decision making. This study indicates a slightly higher degree of school autonomy in England/Wales, the Netherlands, and Sweden. (SLD)

Review states that two well-known evaluators have assembled a collection of essays on emerging issues in evaluation. These include global political perspectives, qualitative and quantitative research, the relationship between auditing and evaluation, performance assessment, international evaluation, and methodological issues. (SLD)

Reports the results of a questionnaire on teaching and facilities completed by teachers (N=214) and students (N=630) in Uganda. Indicates that teachers hold a view of science as problem solving, whereas students see science as heavy with memorization. Contains 17 references. (DDR)

It is time for the field of evaluation to recognize that the ability to serve policy depends as much on what is understood about how politics works as it does on the quality and appropriateness of evaluation methods. Evaluations must be defensible as the political mix changes. (SLD)

An examination of the debate over affirmative action policies in higher education finds that increasingly, conservative black scholars are opposing continuation of affirmative action. In addition, the movement is gaining credibility through the activities of conservative academic groups such as the National Association of Scholars. These groups…

Contends that the stereotype of political corruption and contention between the Republicans and Democrats remains the basis of many lesson plans on the Gilded Age. Offers a brief account of the origins of this conventional interpretation, its persistence for nearly a century, and the challenge to it by more recent scholars. (CMK)

Summarizes the five reasons why the National History Standards will have a minimal effect on history instruction in U.S. schools: (1) the controversy behind the standards; (2) the unrealistic and impractical nature of the standards; (3) competition with local policies; (4) the formulation of widely adopted textbooks; and (5) the nature of history.…

Explores how the concept of freedom in Paulo Freire's constructivist epistemology-constituted as agentive, spontaneity-based action-is in tension with his ethical project of a pedagogy for justice, one based on responsibility and non-indifference. Resolution of this tension means reconceptualizing the grounding notion of the subject beyond a…

This case study discusses the influence of politics on educational technology policies and practices by tracing the effects of a change of governing political parties with differing ideologies and advisory constituencies. It begins by describing a democratic socialist government initiative based on social capital theory and emphasising connections…

Recent decades have seen an explosion of transnational networking and activism, but participation varies widely around the globe. Using negative binomial regression, we explore how national and global political and economic factors shape this "uneven geography" of participation in transnational social movement organizations (TSMOs). Contrary to…

Few analyses have examined what testing's political status means for how those outside the education establishment view externally mandated tests and what they expect them to accomplish. This article provides such an analysis by first elaborating on the notion that testing and accountability have become political issues. It then describes the…