Drawing on case studies of three elementary school teachers in a diverse urban school setting in Texas, the author explores the varied ways teachers actively read accountability-related curriculum policies and then respond to these policies. Rooted in classroom observations and extensive teacher interviews, the author examines issues of teacher…

Merit promotion policies that require students to post passing scores on standardized tests or be retained in grade have become widespread. In this study, the author used a cultural sociological perspective to examine how teachers and students at two urban high schools enacted a district-wide merit promotion policy. Findings indicate that rather…

Hurricane Katrina exposed to the world the side of America that is often ignored or forgotten--the side of America where people live in poverty and struggle to meet their most basic needs. This article focuses primarily on children in Mississippi and highlights the effect that poverty has on children's well-being at an early age and future…

Programs of professional development for preservice teachers of young children in the United States attempt to align their program goals and candidate performances to The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Association of Childhood Education International (ACEI), and their particular state standards. In addition they…

For 35 years, "Anthropology and Education Quarterly" has provided analyses of education in social and cultural contexts. In this article, I describe the present context as the conjuncture of global neoliberalism, resistance, and U.S. drive for world domination. I propose ethnography that politically engages relationships between…

No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) encourages New Jersey and other states to use their expanded roles in narrow ways. NCLB identifies state takeovers as one potential sanction for schools that fail to reach their adequate yearly progress (AYP) targets for five consecutive years.

Uses the demand-supply continuum to look at emerging reforms in the Japanese educational system. Data from fieldwork in major urban districts and their prefectures in Nagoya, Osaka, and Tokyo highlight demand-driven reform (higher education restructuring), integrated governance (mediating demand and supply at the K-12 levels), and ongoing…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 propelled high stakes testing to an unprecedented level of significance. Decisions based on the results of such mandated assessments is flawed in that the tests are not an accurate measure of actual knowledge and neglect to address environmental, socio-cultural, and economic factors influencing student…

The "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) Act has failed to provide funds and programs envisioned by President George W. Bush. The Act's key tenets promised improved student learning and professional development for teachers, but changes in national priorities have prevented congress from meeting state requests for assistance. Schools are…

Few analyses have examined what testing's political status means for how those outside the education establishment view externally mandated tests and what they expect them to accomplish. This article provides such an analysis by first elaborating on the notion that testing and accountability have become political issues. It then describes the…

Prosecutorial misconduct involves the intentional use of illegal or improper methods for attaining convictions against defendants in criminal trials. Previous research documented extensive errors in the prosecution of severe crimes. A theory formulated to explain this phenomenon proposes that in serious cases, increased pressure to convict…

Reform and accountability are imperative for programmatic changes in general and special education. Understandably, any form of reform matters to students, parents, and other educational stakeholders. However, the question is not whether special education is a necessity; the questions continue to be, How "special" is special education for African…

The "good fruit, bad fruit" parable provides a metaphor for sound accountability. If one wants to assess the source of problems to determine quality, then one must look at what has been produced. Unfortunately, many researchers and practitioners have examined the fruit without determining the quality of the tree. This failure has allowed…

In this article, the authors discuss why ranking has become so popular in schools. Those who promote ranking believe that it provides information to help parents and students choose a "good school"; that it puts pressure on the underperforming school to improve; and that it provides an opportunity for a school to be scrutinized through a…

Teachers typically receive the brunt of the criticism for poor performance on large-scale standardized tests. In order to stave off this criticism, some teachers have begun to provide instruction that utilizes actual or cloned items from these high-stakes tests. Such teaching to the test rarely helps learning and has a detrimental effect on the…