Examining education policy, specifically policy related to standards, testing and accountability, from a critical perspective reveals the dominance of neoliberal perspectives. Trends of individual motivators in the educational system limit the democratic curriculum development process. "Feel good" moments for policy makers lead to…

The Common Core State Standards were implemented in the state of Georgia in the 2012/2013 school year replacing NCLB. Previous studies indicated that teachers and administrators viewed NCLB negatively, and the purpose of this study was to gauge teachers' perceptions of the new standards after they had been in effect for one and a half years.…

States and districts have the flexibility to creatively use Title II, Part A funds to address teacher quality issues. Currently, three strategies predominate--class size reduction, professional development, and recruitment, induction, and retention of highly qualified teachers. Each strategy is implemented with the intention of improving teaching…

The U.S. national high school graduation rate recently reached a record high with 81 percent of the Class of 2013 graduating within four years. While this accomplishment is laudable, it should not obscure the fact that more than 1,200 high schools, serving more than 1.1 million students, still fail to graduate one-third or more of their students…

This spring, Congress is considering the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. In the 14 years since the law was passed, AEI Education has devoted extensive analysis to how it worked in practice. AEI has distilled their work into a series of brief chapters to provide a one-stop shop for understanding why the law was passed, what went…

Having a disability or ongoing ill health (including mental health conditions) can significantly disrupt an individual's educational attainment and employment prospects, potentially creating lifelong social and economic disadvantage. These students may need additional support to help them successfully complete their studies. In addition, education…

Since the onset of NCLB legislation and federal funding for schools tied to summative assessment performance, educational leaders have sought to identify factors that are most influential on student learning outcomes. Research continues to link the use of formative data practices and teacher efficacy to improved student performance. The intent of…

It has been three years since Race to the Top grant-winning states piloted new teacher evaluation systems and many of them have made considerable progress, yet according to media coverage and a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report published in April 2015, struggles remain and most grantees have asked to extend the timetables for…

What is a high-quality statewide data system? One characteristic is that it provides the information needed to address important questions about early intervention and early childhood special education. But what are those questions? What questions should data users, such as program directors, advocates, and policymakers, be asking? The Center for…

Teacher candidates, because of their lack of experience, often display signs of apparent understanding which leads to professional practice and behaviors that are blind, impulsive and many times not appropriate. Through dialogue and reflection, the authors became concerned as to how to scaffold a richer learning opportunity that would lead toward…

Drawing on the traditions of critical pedagogy from Paulo Freire and Henry Giroux to recent critical research developed in the "Journal of Pedagogy," this study explores how a particular case of curriculum reform in the US is entangled with racial neoliberalism and paranoia.

Education policy has undergone transformation in many countries over the last decade. In this article, we focus on the effects of the most significant international initiative in secondary education, which is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). We analyse two…

A rally in Washington, DC to transform the U. S. schools provided an example of merging poetry, performance, and research for social justice activism. The arts-based research forms of a/r/tography and performance ethnography provided the poet/performer/researcher/activist with frameworks of sense-making that were fluid, intrasubjective, and…

Content analyses of journals in the field of LD provide a means of surveying research and publication trends, the knowledge of which may inform policy and practice related to future research agendas. As the first decade of the current millennium was particularly contentious for the field of LD, we felt that a content review would be timely. In…

The author, as a retired high school teacher, has some bad news for college professors. In case, they do not already see what is happening. The author wants to warn them of what to expect from the students who will be arriving in one's classroom even if they teach in a highly selective institution. No Child Left Behind went into effect for the…