In this article, I present the argument that educational theory has specific character, which distinguishes it from most scientific disciplines. It requires the application of not only strictly scientific methods, which essentially consist of descriptions and explanations, but also normative ones, which indicate how it is related to philosophy and…

In this article, I show how resources for an education for non-dichotomous thinking can be drawn from the two Daoist texts, the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi. Dichotomous thinking can be defined as thinking that considers things in terms of strict and even irreconcilable dichotomous oppositions. The authors of the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi are known…

By aggregating residual gain scores (the differences between each student's current score and a predicted score based on prior performance) for a school or a teacher, value-added models (VAMs) can be used to generate estimates of school or teacher effects. It is known that random errors in the prior scores will introduce bias into predictions of…

Larry Nucci, in his article "Character: A Multifaceted Developmental System," has outlined a model of character that focuses on 4 domains of the moral system. This response focuses on 2 issues. The first is Nucci's equation of character with moral functioning. My research has led me to propose that 3 elements are essential to any…

In this article we seek to problematize the presence of the requirement within the teachers' standards (DfE, 2012), that they "should not undermine fundamental British values" in the context of initial teacher education in England. The inclusion of this statement within the teachers' code of conduct has made its way from the…

Research Findings: To test children's use of testimony of others, 3-9 years (N = 227) made judgments about a potential peer transgression in which the intentions of the protagonist were ambiguous, after hearing two different forms of testimony. The 2 forms of testimony were (a) opposing "opinion-based" testimony from an adult authority…

The learning spaces of higher education are changing with collaborative, agile and technology-enabled spaces ever more popular. Despite the massive investment required to create these new spaces, current quality systems are poorly placed to account for the value they create. Such learning spaces are typically popular with students but the impact…

This article is an inquiry into the work of educators at the James Baldwin School (JBS), a New York City public school with an explicit commitment to democracy in its mission and core values. The author was founding principal at JBS for the first six years, has stayed in touch, and recently went back to talk with faculty about how their work has…

Sports can be used to facilitate analytical thinking when students are asked to critically conceptualize culture, societal institutions, and ways social capital is constructed within communities. In this article, the authors explore how one aspect of sports culture, pick-up sports, models democratic values. In analyzing the pickup game, as…

As foreign language and (inter)cultural studies instructors, we have a duty to assist both our students and the communities with which we interact understand and cope with an increasingly technologized, globalized, and conflictive mid-twenty-first-century society. In the unpredictable context of 2068, community-engaged pedagogy can become an even…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to listen to the voices of youth ages 9-12 about environmental contributors or resources that influence their positive youth development. An adapted version of this Clark and Moss (2011) participatory research method, the mosaic approach provided youth an opportunity to use their voice to provide insight…

Contemporary teacher evaluation systems are built upon multiple measures including, primarily, teacher-level value-added and observational estimates. While researchers have conducted examinations of these systems and indicators, researchers have not investigated how using these systems might distort the validity of the inferences being drawn,…

The six papers in this special issue focus on how values and values education are embedded in the everyday life at Nordic preschools. The studies in this special issue provide stimulating theoretical and methodological knowledge to inform further study of values education internationally. A key contribution of the papers is that there is…

This article articulates a framework suitable for use when making decisions about education policy. Decision makers should establish what the feasible options are and evaluate them in terms of their contribution to the development, and distribution, of educational goods in children, balanced against the negative effect of policies on important…

After its publication in 1916, "Democracy and Education" opened up a global debate about educational thought that is still ongoing. Various translations of Dewey's work, appearing at different times, have aided in introducing his ideas within different conversations and across different cultures. The introduction of Dewey's masterwork…