On August 31, 2005, Nebraska state educational and policy leaders participated in the Nebraska Education Forum to discuss ways to improve student transition from high school to postsecondary education and careers. The forum was sponsored by the League for Innovation in the Community College and the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and…

On May 8, 2006, Georgia state educational and policy leaders participated in the Georgia Education Forum to discuss ways to improve student transition from high school to postsecondary education and careers. The forum was sponsored by the League for Innovation in the Community College and the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and supported…

"The Educational Morass" is about the ineffectiveness of public education in the United States today and why it is unlikely to achieve significant improvement in the absence of heavy external pressure. The reason for these conclusions and what can be done about it are the core of this book. It is an explanation of why the most popular…

Although an established alternative form of American education, the concept of home schooling is just beginning to surface in China. Few Chinese have knowledge of home schooling yet alone consider this form of education. However, graduate students studying in the field of education are aware of this unusual alternative to traditional schooling,…

Using the case of the Flemish policy on educational quality and based on a series of case studies, the author argues that the impact of central policy measures on educational practices in schools is never simply straightforward. Policy measures are always interpreted by and translated to the particular context of a school. In these processes of…

The advent of a democracy in South Africa ushered in refreshing changes within the South African context. Given South Africa's dark apartheid history, every policy intervention had to ensure a human rights ethos prevails. Inclusive Education, through the publication of the policy document Education White Paper 6 on Special Needs Education:…

The clash of values between the principal and the community has political ramifications for how policies are developed and implemented. This case study describes a situation in which an African American principal in a White-dominant but increasingly diverse rural school district tests the limits of a community by enforcing a tardy policy for the…

The winning of an artist representing the lowest level of Finnish musical taste during the 2006 Eurovision song contest marks not only the rebellious attitude towards the over-sanitized contest, but it was the result of a new practice--voting by text message. Recently, music-biased schools that were once selective of the music they teach are now…

In this chapter we set out a series of progressive egalitarian policy principles and proposals that constitute a democratic Marxist and ecosocialist manifesto for schooling and teacher education for economic and social justice. This is based on a democratic Marxist theoretical framework (1) and on a structuralist neo-Marxist analysis (2). We also…

A brief examination of early childhood music education in South Africa, through an investigation of government documents and academic literature, leads to an impression that music is embraced in a broad framework of meeting young children's cultural and artistic needs. There is an overriding consciousness of the value of providing children with…

This article discusses the limited use of education vouchers in an era of unprecedented growth in school choice. It is divided into two parts: first, a description of the policy, political, and legal barriers that may limit the expansion of large-scale voucher programs is presented. Discussion then shifts to the efforts of voucher advocates to…

The changes in the New Orleans public school system are proceeding at break neck speed. There is currently a bill in the Louisiana State Senate which would allow the state to sell, lease, or give New Orleans school buildings to any institution that has operated schools for 25 years. This would be done with a no-bid process. The money would not go…

When delivering educational programs for commercial farmers, public policy educators should include some major points related to upcoming deliberations on the 1995 farm bill. This paper provides background material for public policy educators on the following questions. When do farm program benefits become so low that farmers decide not to…

This paper presents findings of a study that determined whether the educational benefits received by four African-American communities in Louisiana were a product of political interaction. The following theoretical frameworks were used: Floyd Hunter's (1953) method for identifying "community influentials," Robert Dahl's (1963) method for…

This paper presents findings of a case-study analysis of the first year of a superintendent, with a focus on the relationship between school-district context and individual characteristics. The case study was conducted as part of a larger, national study comprised of 13 case studies of the superintendency across the United States. The case study…