This book offers a critical and deconstructive account of global discourses on education, arguing that these overblown "hypernarratives" are neither economically, technically nor philosophically defensible. Nor even sane. Their "mythic economic instrumentalism" mimic rather than meet the economic needs of global capitalism in…

This book examines the concept of civility and the conditions of civil disagreement in politics and education. Although many assume that civility is merely polite behavior, it functions to aid rational discourse. Building on this basic assumption, the book offers multiple accounts of civility and its contribution to citizenship, deliberative…

Hailed by Oprah as a "warrior woman for our times," reviled by teachers unions as the enemy, Michelle Rhee, outgoing chancellor of Washington DC public schools, has become the controversial face of school reform. She has appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, and is currently featured as a hero in the documentary "Waiting for…

The push for centralized control over what every child should learn has never had more momentum. The Obama Administration has pressured states to adopt the Common Core State Standards Initiative, conditioning more than $4 billion in Race to the Top grants on its adoption. The Administration's blueprint for the rewrite of No Child Left Behind also…

"Teachers are at the far end of educational reform." Apart from students and parents, they are often the very last to be consulted about and connected to agendas of what changes are needed in education, and of how those changes should be managed. Educational change is something that government departments, venture philanthropists,…

Back-and-forth enrollment at different institutions--student swirl--and concurrent enrollment at two or more institutions--double-dipping--have become common experiences for students in the United States. However, empirical studies explaining student mobility are rather rare. This study examines how student departures from and returns to a single…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) U.S. Senators Harkin and Enzi Release Draft Language to Revise NCLB: Senate Committee to Consider Draft Containing…

Stand for Children was founded in the late 1990s as a way to advocate for the welfare of children. It grew out of a 1996 march by more than 250,000 people in Washington, D.C. The aim of the march was to highlight child poverty at a time when Congress and the Clinton administration were preparing to "end welfare as we know it." Jonah…

International partners must always realise that local education systems interact with local social environments. Local perspectives are active agents in shaping the effectiveness of educational change. Underlying cultural, symbolic and social structures set the elastic limits of change and impact the formulation and implementation of policy…

On June 7, 2007, the Antioch University board of trustees declared that Antioch College, an independent liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, was in a state of financial exigency, and, two days later, voted to suspend college operations after the next academic year. After that year, the board oversaw the closing of the college while…

This article presents the findings of a qualitative study on the "Bang' jomariek," a women's group in West Reru in Western Kenya who engage in the production of indigenous arts and crafts (pots, baskets, and architecture) to generate income and explore politics, medicine, and other matters that affect them and their community. The women…

In this article, the author tells the story of her search for appropriate tools to conceptualise policy work. She had set out to explore the relationship between the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Australia's education policy, but early interview data…

In our increasingly instrumentalist culture, debates over the privatization of schooling may be beside the point. Whether we hatch some new plan for chartering or funding schools, or retain the traditional model of government-run schools, the ongoing instrumentalization of education threatens the very possibility of public education. Indeed, in…

In many countries choice of school is an increasing concern for families and governments. In Spain and Chile, it is also associated with a long-standing political cleavage on the regulation of large sectors of private-dependent schools. This article analyses both the micro- and the macro-politics of choice in these two countries, where low-status…

The revised New Zealand Curriculum became mandatory for use in New Zealand schools in February 2010. The ongoing reform agenda in education in New Zealand since 1989 and elsewhere internationally has had corrosive effects on teacher professionality. State-driven neo-liberal policy and education reforms are deeply damaging to the mental and moral…