Ten years ago, in 2001, the U.S. Congress enacted the "No Child Left behind Act" (NCLB). This landmark act focused on standards-based education with the goal of raising challenges and improving student achievement. Advocates for gifted children have been concerned over the law's silence regarding talented and high-achieving children. In…

Case studies about issues arising from education policy were written between 2003 and 2011 by doctoral candidates in Curriculum and Instruction who were career K-12 educators. Literary analysis was employed in grouping 57 case studies, which described primarily situations that occurred in school districts in one large metropolitan area, by topic…

The "Principles and Standards for School Mathematics" published in 2000 by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) created a vision of mathematical concepts and processes to establish core educational guidelines for instruction from grades K to 12. The overall plan does emphasize higher level thinking, problem solving, and…

State education agencies have been tasked with an immense productivity challenge--increasing student outcomes on fewer funds for the unforeseeable future. The federal government has expected more from states over the last few decades in improving district and school performance: however, there were minimal gains even when states had more money.…

In this paper, we discuss the implications for gifted students of challenges facing rural schools. We explore 4 challenges with particular relevance to rural schools: (a) declining population, (b) persistent poverty, (c) changing demographics, and (d) ongoing accountability requirements. Recommendations positioned to address these challenges…

In his "Wall Street Journal" op-ed on the 25th of anniversary of "A Nation At Risk", former assistant secretary of education Chester E. Finn Jr. applauded the report for turning U.S. education away from equality and toward achievement. It was not surprising, then, that in mid-2008, Finn arranged a conference to examine the…

Diversity has been a focus of higher education policy, law, and scholarship for decades, continually expanding to include not only race, ethnicity and gender, but also socioeconomic status, sexual and political orientation, and more. However, existing collections still tend to focus on a narrow definition of diversity in education, or in relation…