Recent reforms in England's education system have been justified on the grounds that other countries have pursued similar approaches to education reform. Many such policies that by-pass or otherwise diminish meso-level institutions demonstrate a commitment to the idea of devolving authority to local actors. The current reforms in England and…

Issues concerning higher education today (e.g., rising costs, declining public trust, changing state economics) have created new demands for postsecondary institutions to demonstrate their productivity. We examine whether differences in states' political cultures (i.e., underlying traditions, values, and public policy choices) are reflected…

The promotion of sex/gender equity education in Taiwan was initiated by a women's movement group, the Awakening Foundation in the late 1980s. In 1997, it became a policy in education. The passage of the Gender Equity Education Act in 2004 was a major milestone. At present, although gender equity education has been essentially institutionalized,…

The paper explores pedagogies of surveillance and counter pedagogies of radical democracy and co-operative practice and their implications for continuing professional development (CPD). Teachers have had to respond to an increasing naturalisation of surveillance in schools. However, this naturalisation can be countered by drawing upon the emergent…

In the process of China's transformation from a socialist to a post-socialist society, China's entire system of education has experienced breathtaking expansion and reform. In this context, first-tier universities increasingly accept students from more financially well off backgrounds. While second-tier universities are inclined to accept more…

Concerns about a decline in literacy and numeracy standards in New Zealand are longstanding. Such concerns have again come to the fore with the introduction of the Education (National Standards) Amendment Act 2008. In this paper we track the debates leading up to the new legislation, focusing on the political struggles and the way in which games…

The author often says that Rethinking Schools began on his kitchen table with a can of rubber cement and an Apple IIe computer. But that's not exactly true. In some ways the publication started a year and half earlier in a study group of teachers and community activists who were struggling to figure out how to apply a generally progressive,…

In this text I discuss two events in which I learned something important about life and about education in order to formulate in a precise manner two propositions for my pedagogical creed. In focus for both are the interrelatedness of theory and life. The stories are told through the lenses of Emmanuel Levinas's and Jacques Ranciere's thinking,…

The review of TLRP's research that is presented in this volume offers manifold aspects that are worth reflecting on. In my contribution, I concentrate on two aspects that are especially interesting from an international perspective or, more precisely, from a German point of view. The first is a general reflection on the education and science…

Educational standards, assessments, and accountability systems are of immense political moment around the world. But there is no developed theory exploring the role that these systems should play within a democratic polity in particular. On the one hand, well-designed standards are public goods, supported by assessment and accountability…

The author gives a personal account of campaigning on fair admissions and the importance of Admission Forums and some of the responses it has generated along with the ConDem Coalition response--or lack of it. (Contains 3 notes.)

President Barack Obama is putting new money to save educators' jobs and help states refurbish aging school facilities at the center of a nearly $450 billion plan to jump-start the sluggish economy. The author talks about the president's plan which is sure to face hurdles in a politically polarized Washington where one house of Congress is…

At a time when many states are adopting controversial measures to launch or expand private school vouchers, Republicans in Michigan are taking a different direction, moving ahead with a plan that would greatly expand the menu of public school choices for students and parents. GOP lawmakers, who control both state legislative chambers, have…

This paper addresses perceptions and applications of teacher evaluation by Arab elementary school principals. Analysis of semi-structured interviews with fourteen Arab principals showed that most of the principals identified teacher evaluation as a strategy to improve teaching and learning levels and consequently to improve students' achievements.…

This article critically examines how interactions between social changes, social harmony, and historical memory shape school music education in China. As a historical review and documentary analysis, it traces the historical development of music education and examines the Chinese government's role in such interactions over time. The article argues…