Describes the challenges facing the Hungarian educational system in the post-Communist era. Focuses on the issue of increased community and teacher participation in educational decision making. Presents the relationship of this issue to economic and political reorganization in the context of changing societal structures and individual…

Discusses the relationship between education and Apartheid in South Africa and Namibia, asserting that the political system was fostered by unequal educational systems that provided different schools and resources for different population groups. Describes the increase of alternative education projects, including the National Literacy Programme in…

Explores possibilities for critical, resistance-based approaches to school leadership. Compares Marx's, Habermas's, Baudrillard's, and Foucault's views of human regulation, along with other individual/group theories. Assesses theories' utility for critical leadership in education. Individuals can resist oppressive school practices by pursuing…

The little town of Benson, Vermont, set a national record by voting down its proposed school budget 12 times. This paper reviews the facts leading up to the situation, providing the Benson residents' point of view, which was that they did not regard the system as their own and they felt that taxpayers' money was being wasted by the system. (SM)

Considers writing instruction in open-admissions sites as central to the historical formation and continuing practice of composition studies. Interviews compositionists at open-admissions institutions, showing how they put students' acts of reading and writing at the center of their disciplinary practice, and regard the teaching of first-year…

The recent establishment of charter schools in Alberta (Canada) has prompted allegations of a radical change towards privatization by the Progressive Conservative (PC) government. However, policy decisions since the 1970s demonstrate that the PC government has consistently supported private alternatives to public education; charter schools extend…

Today's superintendents are unaccustomed to sharing significant power with others and are expected to educate all youngsters effectively. Superintendents' responses to differences with their boards can profoundly affect progress in school improvement. By stressing dialog over discussion, superintendents might keep their jobs without sacrificing…

Reviews four recent books on academic women. Collectively, they suggest that new scholarship on academic women is more international, reflects a postmodern attention to difference and power, rejects "women's ways" feminism as a sufficient response, and seeks to reclaim issues of power, authority, and politics through attention to policy.…

Recommends that teachers combine multicultural education with an inquiry-based approach to social studies to help students critically examine society. Addresses the different obstacles when adopting this approach and offers an example of the inquiry method at work. Identifies 12 essential questions and controversial issues to use in classroom…

In discussing the intellectual and institutional history of the foundations of education, this paper examines the gendered splits in this history, analyzing ways that women have been historically excluded by the politics of academe from contributing to educational theory, being effectively positioned within "women's true profession."…

Argues that the idealism that is central to most stories of good teaching practice can become an obstacle when teachers who do not work in optimal conditions try to turn "theory" into practice. Offers an alternative narrative of "good" teaching: teacher and students constructing an intellectually engaging experience under less-than-optimal…

Presents a position paper on adolescent literacy and what adolescents deserve developed by the International Reading Association's Commission on Adolescent Literacy. Outlines some questions and answers about adolescent literacy. Details seven principles for supporting adolescents' literacy growth as they deserve. Lists suggested readings and notes…

Neglect of divergent cultural values and belief systems; perennial debates about moral, ethical, and legal questions; power struggles; and technically oriented initiatives have thwarted school-reform efforts. Initiating frequent policy changes to accommodate fads overlooks the slowness of change and the learning process in complex social…

Presents a historical survey of the official discourse on functional literacy in the industrialized countries on the basis of the reports of 20 seminars and international conferences linked to UNESCO. Underlines broad geopolitical tendencies of the literacy movement. Concludes with a typology of principal political tendencies. (42 citations) (VWC)

Draws upon case studies of countries that universalized primary education early in their development process and rapidly increased secondary enrollments thereafter. Examines the common elements of social and education policy among these high achievers, and also evaluates the policy lessons for other developing countries from the experience of…