This volume collects Christine Sleeter's core work focusing on "critical" multicultural education, situating culture and identity within an analysis of power and racism. Multicultural education arose in the context of the Civil Rights Movement and, in its inception, shared with that movement a focus on eradicating both interpersonal and…

From the 1890s through World War II, the greatest hopes of American progressive reformers lay not in the government, the markets, or other seats of power but in urban school districts and classrooms. "The Importance of Being Urban" focuses on four western school systems--in Denver, Oakland, Portland, and Seattle--and their efforts to…

By exploring the tensions, impacts, and origins of major controversies relating to schooling and curricula since the early twentieth century, this insightful text illustrates how fear has played a key role in steering the development of education in the United States. Through rigorous historical investigation, Evans demonstrates how numerous…

"Dismantled" is an accessible, critical look at the devolution of local power in the Detroit public school system. The author examines the rise of charter schools and other private enterprises, the eclipse of control from local actors to new players and influences, and the invaluable lessons the experience holds for urban school systems…

In this dynamic book, Kevin Kumashiro offers a necessary intervention to help progressive educators and advocates take back public education. This book highlights how the broader Left (progressives, liberals, Democrats, teacher unions, civil rights organizations) are often talking about the "problem" in ways that were framed by forces…

This book focuses on discourses of globalisation in comparative education research and the politics of education reforms. It analyses and evaluates the shifts in methodological approaches to globalisation and education reforms, as reflected in comparative education research and their impact on education policy and pedagogy. The book covers topics…

Recent years have shown the growth of federal legislation and programs having a profound impact on educational policy and practice, and a decline in reliance on broadly based educational justifications. Paralleling this development has been the emergence of well-endowed and influential private foundations, and an increase in corporate influence in…

Matthew Arnold, 19th century English poet, literary critic and school inspector, felt that each age had to determine that philosophy that was most adequate to its own concerns and contexts. This study looks at the influence that Matthew Arnold had on John Dewey and attempts to fashion a philosophy of education that is adequate for our own…

In "The Transformation of Great American School Districts", William Lowe Boyd, Charles Taylor Kerchner, and Mark Blyth argue that urban education reform can best be understood as a long process of institutional change, rather than as a series of failed projects. They examine the core assumptions that underlay the Progressive Era model of…

Paideia principles successfully marry a fundamentally conservative idea--the beneficial rigors of a classical education--and a fundamentally liberal one--progressive teaching and learning practices. If the original Paideia Group's list of 12 principles symbolizes the paradigm shift in values that must accompany true school improvement, the 14…

Having taught for nearly 30 years in Britain's first Rudolf Steiner school, Francis Edmunds founded Emerson College, an adult education and teacher training center where he was active until his death in 1989. This book contains a collection of Edmunds' writings on Steiner education mostly excerpted from "Child and Man,""The Michael…

Whether or not progressive educational practices are commonplace in American schools is explored, moving between descriptions of progressive education at the national level and close studies of several local school systems in the Chicago (Illinois) area. The focus is on elementary schools. The first half of the book centers on progressivism in the…

In this collection, educators examine progressive education from both historical and practical standpoints, addressing the daily struggles confronting progressively oriented teachers as they create classrooms to support their values. After an introduction, "Class Values," by C. Montag, the following essays are presented: (1) "Large…

"Multicultural Education Policies in Canada and the United States" uses a dialogical approach to examine responses to increasing cultural and racial diversity in both countries. It compares and contrasts foundational myths and highlights the sociopolitical contexts that affect the conditions of citizenship, access to education, and…