The charter-school idea has spread rapidly across the United States. One-half of the states have adopted charter-school laws since 1991, and legislatures in other states have given the idea careful consideration. This paper explores the political factors that shape charter-school laws. The paper utilizes the policy-innovation-diffusion framework…

This book focuses on the Wannsee Conference (Berlin, Germany, 1943) where Germany's "learned men" gathered to work out a "final solution" for the Jewish "problem." It addresses the issue of what had gone wrong with the education system when the men attending this conference (who had received its highest degrees) could…

Defining civic education reform in the Czech Republic since 1989 in terms of its post-communist transition, this paper contends that the breadth, depth, and range of educational reforms proposed or already adopted in Central and Eastern European societies is extensive, involving most areas of education (curricula, educational legislation,…

Latvia, formerly a Soviet state, has been attempting to create an independent democratic country since the late 1980s. This paper describes the history of Latvia's political culture in relation to the country's democratization, particularly in its schools over the last decade. Although many Latvian institutions have been slow to change, visible…

Many countries have introduced a range of policies that attempt to reformulate the relationships among government, schools, and parents through the application of market forces. This paper looks at the hidden curriculum of marketization and explores the extent to which the recent trend toward quasi-markets in public education systems are…

This book develops a schema of strategic planning that has proved effective and useful at a variety of colleges and universities. It looks at the general context and imperative for doing strategic planning and considers the historical and traditional antecedents that have led to the present-day need for strategic planning. The book reviews the…

Recent instances of cultural conflict represent a single, broad, novel cultural tendency with real capacities to effect change. This tendency is labeled "black cultural projection." By altering American culture, black cultural projection questions entrenched patterns of political and economic domination in the United States, even though…

Demystifying some of the implications of multiculturalism might allow the opportunity to ground the field in the basic exercise of cultural affirmation, self-determination. Contributors to this book affirm that self-determination and moving beyond the comfort zones to which multiculturalism has advanced are essential to seeing multiculturalism as…

This book provides alternative answers to those questions about the American educational system that have been answered until now by an outmoded, conservative educational agenda. Following the introduction that describes the rationale for a postmodern deconstruction of educational narratives, 13 chapters present essays on the following questions:…

This book provides a brief historical review of outcomes assessment in higher education and a general guide to designing, implementing, and evaluating assessment programs. Chapter 1 provides several definitions of commonly used terms and a review of the major actors and the political context. It identifies factors contributing to the recent push…

A study was undertaken to develop ways to internationalize the curricula of universities in a cost effective manner that will result in a recommended interdisciplinary studies program. An examination of the development of trade in the United States and the changing role and scope of higher education noted a golden age of higher education and peak…

Since 1985, a group of scholars has formed the School Expansion Workshop to examine empirical evidence for causal theories of school expansion. This book contains a collection of articles that are the result of the workshop's annual meetings. Specifically, the book asks, What forces are driving the spread of mass schooling? The preface, by Bruce…

Some baseline information is offered in this study to help determine the ends to which the strategic planning processes are being put and the outcomes that are being pursued. A conceptual overview of planning models and the role of planners are presented. The complete study comprises a two-stage process of data collection. First, strategic plans…

This book, originally published in 1969, presents a comprehensive analysis of the rationale, principles, and presuppositions that make contemporary universities what they are. It proposes that literature, art, and philosophy embody a promise of gratification that engenders a negative critique of the social and cultural status quo, and that the…

Integrative education is defined as education that promotes learning and teaching in nonfragmented ways that embrace notions of holism, complexity, and interconnection. Furthermore, integrative education embraces the links, rather than the divisions, between the academic disciplines (e.g., arts and sciences) and between various subjective and…