During the last 35 years, the right-to-education movement and the standards-based educational reform movement have merged to impact reading research and practice. In the process, equal access to education has become a reality for minority students and students with disabilities. The passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2001 and the…

The Australian Federal Government recently amended the Higher Education Support Act 2003. The effect of this amendment, which came into force on 1 January 2006, is to abolish compulsory up-front fees for the funding of student unions. Voluntary student unionism has been a plank of the Liberal (conservative) platform for many years, but its…

The Committee of University Chairman publishes a code of good practice designed, among other things, to ensure clarity about the authority on which decisions are taken on behalf of universities, subordinate domestic legislation created and the exercise of discretion regulated. In Carltona Ltd.v. Commissioners of Works [1943] 2 All ER 560 AC the…

"Every Child Matters" is a major change programme aimed at integrating all services for children and young people in England. It seeks to enable a new holistic approach to their care and so improve a number of outcomes for children, thus improving their overall well-being. "Every Child Matters" seeks to address the rights of…

This paper begins with a description of my work in a Canadian school of education, where I now realize that I was well insulated from the US context, where many are highly critical of teacher education. My recent move to Stanford University immediately immersed me in the highly controversial practices being imposed on schools and schools of…

Is academic freedom an issue in British universities? It should be because there is no legal protection guaranteeing academic freedom. Individuals have some direct statutory references but nothing of substance that actually provides a definitive statement. There are a variety of statutory provisions dealing with what may appear to be aspects of…

This paper examines the legislative framework developed in New Zealand over the last 15 years to facilitate greater parental choice in education. The discussion is set within the context of changes to admission practices in a number of education systems to advance the privatisation agenda, and outlines the resurgence of interest in the development…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandates that free, appropriate, public education (FAPE) be provided to children with educationally-defined disabilities. The Individualized Education Program (IEP) requirement (i.e., team meeting and document) is the method for providing FAPE to children. Previous research has failed to consider…

Congress has begun to rewrite the Higher Education Act, the federal law that authorizes student aid programs like Pell Grants, student loans, Federal Work-Study, TRIO and GEAR UP. This will mark the eighth time that the law has been formally revisited since it was enacted in 1965. It is still early in the process and it is uncertain what the…

Are instructional aides colleagues of teachers, bridges to the school community, both, or neither? This study addresses this question by asking instructional aides about their relationships with teachers and parents and about their status in schools, and suggestions are made to create stronger bonds among these partners in education. This paper…

Processes are a series of actions, changes, or functions that bring about a desired result. Processes are the way educators work. However, few of them think in these terms. Instead, educators tend to describe their work in terms of functions, like maintaining the online teacher application system, or outcomes, like positive test results. Still…

Professionals with expertise in assessment and diverse learners are in demand to assist in developing and implementing large-scale assessment and accountability systems. This article highlights aspects of current federal legislation that pertain to the development of these systems, describes the areas of expertise and unique perspectives of…

Although No Child Left Behind (NCLB) aims to close the achievement gap that parallels race and class, some of its key provisions are at odds with reforms that are successfully overhauling the large, comprehensive high schools that traditionally have failed students of color and low-income students in urban areas. While small, restructured schools…

Districts in communities experiencing population shifts are being challenged to address three concerns simultaneously: be responsive to the strengths and educational needs of students from increasingly diverse backgrounds, provide meaningful professional development for an expanding or contracting workforce to meet those needs, and ensure that…

It is now the responsibility of educators to provide for the education of severely handicapped students in what has been referred to as "the least restrictive educational environment." This paper discusses least restrictive educational environments in relation to segregation versus integration, interactions with nonhandicapped age peers,…