This paper describes a project aimed at helping children and their families achieve their potential. It is based in an area of high social disadvantage. The authors explain how parenting classes held at a community college (a comprehensive school with provision for adult education), have led to the development of a suite of courses leading to…

In May 2005, university administrators were rudely awakened from their civic slumbers by a "notice of implementation" from the U.S. Department of Education. With little advance comment from the academy, Congress had passed and the President had signed into law a requirement that "each educational institution that receives Federal…

Ideological differences in a writing class evoke the passion of political sensitivities. A graduate student tells of "coming out" as a pro-life advocate in an essay before his feminist classmates and professor. The exchange created instant and irreconcilable enemies, but he also found some unexpected support from a hesitant voice within that…

The motivation and methodology for measuring intelligence have changed repeatedly in the modern history of large-scale student testing. Test makers have always sought to identify raw aptitude for cultivation, but they have never figured out how to promote excellence while preserving equality. They've settled for egalitarianism, which gives rise to…

In our summer 2006 issue, we ran a comprehensive overview of how postmodernism has degraded composition on our campuses. Steve Kogan enlarges that indictment and charges that the movement has deliberately corrupted every area of English instruction--from the acquisition of skills and knowledge to the more fundamental mission of developing in…

The author describes her 30 years of experience in the design and conduct of a series of large-scale randomized controlled studies in the field of public welfare. She describes how these studies came about, what lessons can be drawn about research methods, what was learned about the effectiveness of these programs (the National Supported Work…

The narrative inquiry reported in this study offers a partial view of Cochrane Academy's nuanced landscape. This article elaborates a theoretical frame, then uses different story perspectives to survey Cochrane's professional knowledge landscape over time. It relates what currently is Cochrane Academy to parkland landscape, and it discusses the…

The National Commission on Excellence in Education (1983) published "A Nation at Risk", declaring the mediocrity of American educational performances. Twenty-five years later, our nation still remains at risk even though the federal government, through the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, has attempted to create a…

In January 2005, the Roma Education Fund (REF) came into existence as a Swiss foundation with the goal of increasing the inclusion of Roma children in mainstream classes in Central and Eastern Europe. The fund gives priority to countries that make a political commitment to design and finance actions to improve Roma living conditions, by taking…

In this article, the author discusses some of the most serious challenges--intellectual, institutional, and political--that he sees for the future of professional learning in education. He states that one common solution to these challenges would be for educators to begin to act more like professionals. One thing is clear about the early stages of…

Studying one's profession, especially when done in community with others, where the learning is richer and deeper, has not been the norm in the education community. Educators typically have been physically isolated from each other because of the structure of school facilities and the schedules that dominate the school day. This physical isolation…

The direction quality assurance and its ancillary practices is taking in the transformation process in South Africa is discussed in this article. The article argues that it is incorrect to suggest that the higher education system has been captured by managerialism. While efficiency is an important driver of the system, the imperatives of redress…

President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton have both enacted significant expansions in federal oversight of K-12 schools during their terms. In the combined 15 years of the Clinton and Bush presidencies so far, the federal government has required states to set academic goals for their students and has made schools and districts…

This paper forms part of a recent trend that aims to contribute to the writing of a more inclusive education history sensitive to the operation of gender. The author presents an analysis of educator activists in twentieth-century England that connects, rather than separates, the domains of education, labour history and politics. The paper also…

The present article, a cross-case analysis, analyzes one aspect of the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) that has generated conflict between the U.S. Department of Education and the federal court system. The conflicts arose between the courts' oversight of desegregation and the implementation of the public school choice…