While at one time it was common to refer to public education as a relative monolith and to think about the legitimacy imperative in education, now the very term "public" in U.S. education is no longer a very descriptive term. Consequently, the public schools are today surrounded by a much-widened variety of legitimation conditions and…

Recent evidence suggests school resources are continually segregated from minoritized communities. This funding disparity impacts students' long-term outcomes in school and in their community. Political discourse has prioritized school defunding, privatization through vouchers and related policies, and tax relief and at the same time greater…

Citizenship formation is the bedrock of Cuba's national public education system. Built on ideals of active civic participation, formal citizenship education aims to prepare children and young people to contribute to Cuba's ongoing socialist project. This paper draws on interview data, civic education textbook analysis, and current literature to…

Race has been a central thread in the American fabric since the country's inception, and relationships among racial groups, particularly between Whites and African Americans, have been strained due to the nation's historic founding. Larger, societal tensions around race likely manifest in schools and threaten to impede the premise and promise of…

Debates on gentrification's effects on public education motivated two independently conducted literature reviews about (a) how the increasing presence of middle- and upper-class residents affected public schools in gentrifying communities, and (b) what were gentrification's effects on the schooling experiences of students who resided in the…

A generation ago, billboards, flyers, or radio spots advertising a public school would have been unusual and surprising. Now they are an increasingly regular feature of the educational landscape. As schools compete for students and resources in the new educational marketplace, they increasingly look to market themselves to prospective parents (and…

In 2003, William Boyd spoke of the nation's "double crisis" of educational performance and legitimacy. Indeed, he said, these twin components "interact and reinforce one another" (Boyd, 2003, p. 11). The more attention that is paid to the underperformance of the schools, the more the nation seems to suffer a loss of faith…

South Carolina's persistent resistance to a federal, centralized national government is noteworthy throughout U.S. history. Accordingly, South Carolina's assumption of its powers governing education reserved to the states under the 10th Amendment focuses on commerce and free-market notions of competitive advantages rather than education's value to…

Although researchers consider them powerful, teacher policy advocates are among the least studied stakeholders in U.S. public education reform today. Although plenty of attention has been given to the impact of policy on teachers' work, little research explores how teachers interpret or interact with policy. Drawing on the work of Spillane,…

A barrage of pro-privatization policies that cascaded into North Carolina education statutes during the 2013-2014 legislative session helped spark a series of organized protests known as the Moral Monday Movement. Powerful and strategic policy networks, such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), have made privatization and…

In this article, Kelley and Mead consider changes in the policymaking process in Wisconsin before the election of Governor Walker, in the early years following his election, and in the months preceding passage of the 2015-17 biennial budget. Kelley and Mead argue that in Wisconsin, serious and significant attacks to public education motivated by…

The marketization of K-12 education has led to an increase in school-based marketing efforts. Relatively little research, however, has examined how public schools market themselves, who is involved in marketing, and how these marketing efforts impact key stakeholders, including school administrators, teachers, students, and parents.We explore…

This analysis recounts and examines the history of American public education, focusing on the experiences of poor urban and rural students of color. Using the lens of critical race theory, it suggests that educational inequity is not just raced and classed but also spatialized--that is, embedded in and maintained through geography. The mechanisms…

We need homeschooling to save education in a liberal democracy from taking a religious form--what I call Democratic Education. Democratic Education emerges when the democratic identity and narrative become elevated to the highest priority when thinking about educating human beings. This elevation becomes particularly dangerous when other…

This article provides historical and legal context for recent U.S. Supreme Court school desegregation decisions. The Supreme Court's race-based and race-neutral arguments from "Brown" (1954) to "Parents Involved" (2007) are examined within their broader context. Policy implications and potential support for diversity goal…