A principal describes her experience under the changes implemented recently in England and Wales. She describes leadership challenges and some strategies that use micropolitics to effect positive outcomes. She successfully employed tension and confrontation as steps toward change and encouraged participation in decision making. (MLH)

Describes the implementation of an English Language Center in Esteli, Nicaragua in 1993 and identifies social, cultural, and political complexities involved. Qualified teachers were recruited during the planning phase, and after two months of operation, over 200 students were enrolled. Students paid for classes that were marketed only to those who…

Discusses ways in which the structuring of home-school relations around power leads to particular complexities. Looks at the notion of powerlessness as a way of understanding relationships between schools and parents. Suggests that understanding these relationships can help explain the failure of many attempts to improve parental involvement in…

To explore Chicana/o student activism at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), a retrospective case study was employed that was grounded in the theoretical traditions of phenomenology. The central concern of the project focused on the meaning research subjects constructed around various demonstrations and efforts to elevate Chicano…

The anti-affirmative-action climate appears to have affected the Association of American Medical Colleges' Project 3000 X 2000, which seeks to increase the number of underrepresented minorities entering medical schools to 3,000 by the year 2000. Despite early enrollment gains, the number of underrepresented minorities among freshman medical…

Considers the effectiveness of an initiative in a British secondary school taken to mitigate the effects of an all-male senior management team. Draws a partial balance sheet of its successes and failures, especially as related to effects on female school staff, and to friction in dealing with traditional structures. (DSK)

Discusses Margaret Gills's theory of two discourses operating in "the politics of literacy": (1) the discourse that stresses a broad ranging notion of literacy and warns against a narrow, functional definition; and (2) the discourse that argues that Australia is in the middle of a major literary crisis. Asks what problem the National…

Claims many changes in education are based on political agendas and popular educational philosophies rather than solid research findings. Suggests reform would benefit from the kind of practitioner/researcher relationship that operates in other fields such as agriculture and medicine. Provides guidelines for effective research. (NH)

Examines major assumptions of curriculum alignment and standards-based reform. Both reforms are potentially long on political expediency but short on educational efficacy. Improved test scores do not necessarily signal curriculum improvement. Educators should become more politically active, practice professional disobedience, or pursue…

Outlines four ways the basic writing enterprise has failed: by giving insufficient attention to public relations; by allowing itself to be co-opted by traditional academic politics; by not unraveling the confusion of legitimate differences of dialect with "bad grammar"; and by not taking a more critical and enterprising approach to research. (SR)

This article considers the connection between academic research in the area of sensory disabilities and the political process of change. In particular, the focus of the article concerns the "thinking" of people who "do" research and those who "do" legislation. A list of suggestions for enhancing political change is included. (Contains six…

Examines potential ways to view bilingual education in a more liberatory perspective. Summarizes the global, historical context of bilingual education, and outlines principles and features of six models of formal bilingual education. Discusses how language use in school can empower or disable language minority students. Views bilingualism as a…

Details the case of a third-year assistant history professor at Yale University (Connecticut) who was denied reappointment. Raises issues such as the hiring by a department of its own Ph.D.'s, cronyism within departments and fields, denial of reappointment as punishment for criticizing powerful individuals, and the undue influence of a few…

Since January 1998, when six former Metro Toronto (Ontario) school boards were consolidated into one board, Toronto's outdoor education centers have experienced restructuring, work stoppages, strikes, relocation, and threats of closure. Outdoor education advocates must form a new united group, preferably from the bottom up, to lobby for adequate…

Discusses the role of an English department chair within the modern university. Presents 10 useful lessons for a chairperson who is trying to make a department's case to the administration. Concludes that talking successfully to administrators requires avoiding a "them-versus-us" mentality and being willing to think collectively and creatively…