In the early to late 1990s, school systems throughout the United States were undergoing a rash of educational reforms as a result of public demands for holding schools accountable for student learning. Schools were searching for the reform or innovation that would help them improve student achievement. All over the country, "professional…

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of high-stakes testing and accountability on teachers' perceptions of their professional identities. Teachers' instructional practice, work environments, and personal factors are now immersed in the context of high-stakes testing and accountability. This context colors the decisions teachers make…

The purpose of this manuscript is to summarize the major provisions of four salient national government initiatives and relate each one to an "essentialist" political agenda that is based on the essentialist philosophy or theory of education. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, A Nation at Risk, America 2000/Goals 2000, and…

Given the overt political nature of this topic, an additional theoretical postulate, the Triadic Theory of Power was also presented as another framework to conceptualize the external and internal forces which shape the formation of contemporary education policy. Predicated upon the scholarship of Nobel laureate James Q. Wilson, Andrew McFarland…