When education issues come to be understood in terms that neatly overlay the standard ideological alignments, they often become proxies for the war between Right and Left. This has been the case in the instance of charter schools, with proponents and critics mustering up researchers and findings to buttress their respective claims and, in general,…

Political perspectives on the advisability of state achievement comparisons have changed substantially over the last half-century. As Selden (2004) noted regarding the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), "[w]hen it began in the 1960s, NAEP specifically was designed "not" to provide comparisons among states. This was…

Political insider Christopher Cross has updated his critically acclaimed book to reflect recent education policy developments, including the impact of the Obama administration and "Race to the Top" as well as the controversy over NCLB's reauthorization. Featuring a new introduction and the addition of postscripts for key chapters, this…

The Obama administration's education legacy could hinge on the success of the Race to the Top (RTT) program. Now more than ever, with the Department of Education's recent announcement of the round-two winners, RTT has received its share of praise and criticism. The praise stems from RTT's success in fostering policy discussions about the…

The controversial concept of evolution makes up only a small part of the science curriculum stated in Arkansas. During the past few years, the curriculum topic of "Intelligent Design" has caught the attention of many science teachers in the public schools. The Intelligent Design Movement has been successful in attracting the attention of…

Council for American Private Education (CAPE) is a coalition of national associations serving private schools K-12. "Outlook" is published monthly by CAPE. This issue contains the following articles: (1) Off-Year Elections Signal Hope for School Choice; (2) Schools Lend Helping Hand to Haiti; (3) Obama's State of the Union (SOTU) address; and (4)…

Under the guise of socialization, the child-subject born into the modern society is subjugated by a familial childhood trauma that appropriates the infantile psychosis caused by the incommunicability of early childhood. This appropriation, put to instrumental ends, results in a psychology of commodified object relations. In fact, there is a close…

During the last decade or so, schooling policy has had to increasingly grapple with processes that have a global reach. One significant aspect of globalisation has been the global flows of asylum seekers and refugees. Although Australia has a long history of accepting asylum seekers and refugees, in recent times, concerns about national security…

One of the most remarkable developments in American education in the past half century has been the creation and rapid growth of the nation's community colleges. Built on the curricular pillars of vocational education, transfer programs, and community education, community colleges today are considered the "engines of statewide economic…

This article is an exploration of ambiguity as it appears in various guises in philosophical, social, political, and educational situations. Among these situations is the experience of exile. The exploration is conducted by means of literary anecdotes and real-life instances, hence the use of vignettes. The suggestion is made that ambiguity can be…

Adult education's continuing purpose has been questioned by writers for over twenty years and today the re-organisation and closure of some University departments brings this issue to the fore. This paper takes up the theme of really useful knowledge in a changing world from the standpoint of teaching adult education history to graduate students.…

The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) has stated that "the overall achievement goal for American students is performance that qualifies at the Proficient level or higher" (Loomis & Bourke, 2001, p. 2). The Institute for Educational Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education went even further, "The Proficient level…

This case study uses two theoretical lenses to analyze political events in a Southern California school district: dissatisfaction theory and groupthink. The case study technique of pattern matching was used to frame the analysis (Yin, 2009). Data for 1992-2008 was gathered from interviews, the Orange County Registrar of Voters, newspapers,…

This article describes a study that explores the ways in which principals use their political acumen to promote social justice in their schools. Employing face-to-face interviews with 28 principals who have worked in a variety of schools, the study examines the principals' efforts to understand their political contexts, the manner in which they…

In 2009 international student safety became an issue of immediate concern to Australian international education exporters following a series of demonstrations by Indian students and interventions by concerned foreign governments. With these developments the "industry" became fixated on how best to secure Australia's share of the…