With the failure of the No Child Left Behind policies of the 1990's, educational reformers wished to establish a "new and improved" set of standards for the United States to follow. However, since their inception in 2006-2007, the new Common Core State Standards have become increasingly unpopular due to the fact that they remain largely…

Forest certification has gained growing attention as a market-based instrument to make globalizing markets a force for mitigating rather than fostering environmental degradation. Yet in practice, market mechanisms currently appear to encourage concentration of forest certification in Northern temperate and boreal forests, rather than in the…

Political developments with respect to two public school systems are examined in terms of two theoretical models. When viewed from the analytical perspective used here, similarities between the two cities with respect to progress in decentralization begin to emerge.

Public school systems in Chicago have seen relatively little movement toward school decentralization, despite turbulent periods of civil rights. Some explanations framed in theoretical perspectives for the apparent lag as compared with other cities are given. (Author/AM)

The author disagrees with James Coleman's contentions (expressed in the preceding article) that we no longer have a rationale for preserving our commitment to public schools and that we should use public funds for a pluralistic conception of education. He offers reasons for renewing our commitment to public education. (Author/WD)

This book is a collection of 14 papers that grew out of activities and conferences of the Committee for Community Research of the International Sociological Association. All of the papers reflect a general concern for establishing an international basis for the study of local political power and decision-making. The various authors attempt to…

Compares social reform strategies in Britain and America. Illustrates how programs in both countries had similar difficulties, including diffusion of research findings, clarification of objectives, and political manipulation of social research. (SK)

This comparison of antipoverty strategies in Britain (Urban Programme) and the United States (War on Poverty) highlights their similar conceptions of the nature of the problem, differences in approach and implementation, and the contrasting political cultures of American community activism and British socialism. (SK)

Communities with a flexible, open leadership structure may weather energy booms better than communities with old-guard leadership cliques, according to a study of community governance in two small Texas towns. Although similar in location, ethnic composition, population, access to transportation, economic base, and importance in the county,…

After defining educational and cultural terms and establishing a model representing cultural reproduction, case studies illustrate how three Aboriginal communities are educating and socializing their children. Strelley, a community in Western Australia, has a history of determined independence that has resulted in a unique level of economic and…

As a result of his study, "Public and Private Schools," James Coleman concludes that Catholic schools appear to be characterized by both higher quality, on the average, and greater equality than the public schools. Coleman discusses the reasons that may explain this finding. (Author/WD)

A study was conducted to examine current concepts and procedures of community college governance in the United States and the United Kingdom. Agendas and minutes of board meetings were analyzed and interviews were conducted with administrators and board members at four institutions, one rural and one urban from each country. The participating…

Despite the proliferation of indigenous higher education programs and institutions in Australia, Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders are concerned about continuing forms of imposition and domination. The central challenge is to understand that continuing forms of colonialism are responsible for the insidious and embedded features of hegemonic…