States that, with limited budgets and taxpayers becoming more results oriented, institutions of higher education must develop evaluation processes to ensure that programs are meeting the needs of stakeholders. Describes one such process at Fox Valley Technical College (Wisconsin) that includes: (1) selection of programs; (2) preliminary…

Antarctica gathered in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, at the International Symposium on Early Childhood Education and Care for the 21st Century. The symposium's mission was to craft guidelines for programs that serve children under the age of formal schooling in countries throughout the world. After extensive discussions about what constitutes universal…

This article considers issues in educational reform, particularly accountability-oriented policies, and student motivation. We argue that prominent theories of motivation derived from cognitive traits/states are antithetical to the assumptions underlying conventional assessment formats and accountability-oriented reforms. We advance an alternative…

The leading school reform policy in the United States revolves around strong accountability of schools with consequences for performance. The federal government's involvement through the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 reinforces the prior movement of many states toward policies based on measured student achievement. Analysis of state achievement…

With the re-election of George W. Bush and the appointment of Margaret Spellings as his new secretary of education, many are wondering whether now is the time to revisit No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The historic law, passed by Congress with broad, bipartisan support and signed by the President in January of 2002, introduced significant new systems…

If the goal is to fundamentally change the culture inside schools, people need to move beyond the superficiality of professional learning communities and focus on a system of learners. Professional learning communities are in fact about establishing lasting new collaborative cultures. Collaborative cultures are ones that focus on building the…

The early childhood educational field has garnered attention with initiatives to foster skill acquisition in young children prior to kindergarten entry. These initiatives, in conjunction with the rigorous demands of curricular reform and a burgeoning accountability movement, invoke questions regarding the adequacy of the instruments used to assess…

Drawing on case studies of three elementary school teachers in a diverse urban school setting in Texas, the author explores the varied ways teachers actively read accountability-related curriculum policies and then respond to these policies. Rooted in classroom observations and extensive teacher interviews, the author examines issues of teacher…

Merit promotion policies that require students to post passing scores on standardized tests or be retained in grade have become widespread. In this study, the author used a cultural sociological perspective to examine how teachers and students at two urban high schools enacted a district-wide merit promotion policy. Findings indicate that rather…

Hurricane Katrina exposed to the world the side of America that is often ignored or forgotten--the side of America where people live in poverty and struggle to meet their most basic needs. This article focuses primarily on children in Mississippi and highlights the effect that poverty has on children's well-being at an early age and future…

Programs of professional development for preservice teachers of young children in the United States attempt to align their program goals and candidate performances to The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Association of Childhood Education International (ACEI), and their particular state standards. In addition they…

For 35 years, "Anthropology and Education Quarterly" has provided analyses of education in social and cultural contexts. In this article, I describe the present context as the conjuncture of global neoliberalism, resistance, and U.S. drive for world domination. I propose ethnography that politically engages relationships between…

No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) encourages New Jersey and other states to use their expanded roles in narrow ways. NCLB identifies state takeovers as one potential sanction for schools that fail to reach their adequate yearly progress (AYP) targets for five consecutive years.

Uses the demand-supply continuum to look at emerging reforms in the Japanese educational system. Data from fieldwork in major urban districts and their prefectures in Nagoya, Osaka, and Tokyo highlight demand-driven reform (higher education restructuring), integrated governance (mediating demand and supply at the K-12 levels), and ongoing…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 propelled high stakes testing to an unprecedented level of significance. Decisions based on the results of such mandated assessments is flawed in that the tests are not an accurate measure of actual knowledge and neglect to address environmental, socio-cultural, and economic factors influencing student…