In January 2007, the Oregon State Board of Education mandated a new Oregon diploma that strengthened high school graduation requirements with the aim of improving student readiness for college and career. Among the major changes was a requirement that students demonstrate proficiency in nine "essential skills" that included the…

This article describes the reading instructional program that first-graders in an urban school located in a large, Midwestern city received as a result of a grant initiative. Various assessments of the children's reading revealed some important areas for reading success were missing. As a result, suggestions were shared with the school staff to…

The Race to the Top (RTTT) program, announced by the Obama Administration in 2009, represented the largest competitive grant in the history of U.S. education. Despite the amount of money available and the dire condition of most state budgets in that year, however, some states chose not to apply for funding and the remainder submitted applications…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the policy process that led to the passage of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act in the United States and the Bush Administration's role in this process. Design/methodology/approach: The research design is historical and archival. A description of the NCLB Act is given and the major provisions and…

Based on ten months of ethnographic fieldwork, including more than 65 in-depth interviews with Chinese university students and higher education administrators, this study examines the roots of an emerging community service learning movement in mainland China. The dissertation focuses on a case study of a pioneering Chinese Party State-sponsored…

Considers the process of democratizing teacher education in Poland, focusing on the long-term effects of the country's totalitarian history on individuals' ability to take responsibility for their own and others' actions. Describes recent projects aimed at enlarging knowledge about democracy and the training skills necessary for social…

National standards are unnecessary for the top quarter of college-bound students. However, a national basic examination covering marketable skills in language and mathematics is crucial to improving the educational system for all other students. Establishing a National Basic Skills Certificate program would appease both liberals and conservatives.…

The University of Houston's master's degree program in social work with concentration in political social work is described. The debates surrounding political social work education, which is a social-change-oriented curriculum, the importance of political actors and context in development of the program, and the nature of the program's integrated…

A program description of a social studies curriculum development project supported by an ESEA Title III Grant is presented in this paper. The course, designed for secondary students who will soon be voting, focuses on the importance of active involvement and citizenship responsibility for participation in the democratic process. The major…

This paper examines the language planning efforts of the government of Ecuador and groups representing the indigenous peoples of the country. Government sanctioned policy and practice, as well as the grassroots efforts of the Indian population, both aim to influence language behavior and both have ultimately been directed at social and political…

The paper explains how political science educators at the University of Michigan, Dearborn, structured political internship experiences for American college students in the Ontario, Canada, legislature and Metropolitan Toronto government. The internship program allows junior and senior undergraduate political science majors to work for five weeks…