This is a critical time for the science education community as we embark on the creation and implementation of new national science standards. The purpose of this essay is to offer insight into how the language of curriculum standards, including that found in state science standards in the United States over the past 15 years, has posed barriers…

This study examined how self-efficacy beliefs, a central construct of social cognitive theory, might be used to inform educational leadership and policy decisions related to school accountability measures. A survey of 112 principals in Florida was used to investigate the degree to which principals believed the goals of federal and state school…

A problem exists in the U.S. education system regarding the efforts to refine professional development and gain a deeper understanding of content knowledge to impact teachers' abilities to meet students' needs. Many teachers have not had the professional development opportunities that support the improvement of teaching skills and knowledge. The…

Standardized testing, mandated by NCLB, can act as a barrier to prevent Indigenous students from entering teacher training programs and achieving "highly-qualified" certification upon exiting. Such regulations work against the nation-to-nation trust agreements that would place Indigenous teachers within Native school systems. Although…

In this article, the author explores several definitions of reading and evaluating educational research texts without finding deep private meanings or developing objective, scientific, and instrumental norms for evaluating quality of educational research studies. Among these descriptions, the author emphasizes Gadamer's weak poststructural model…

This article examines the ideological dimensions of educational psychology and psychometrics as they relate to the validation of the "intelligence" of the privileged and the "deficiency" of the marginalized. In this critique a critical psychology emerges that takes seriously the lifeworld experiences of culturally and…

We address issues of science curriculum for nonmainstream students--students of color, students learning English as a new language, and students from low-income families--who are often concentrated in urban schools. First, we describe a theoretical framework for equitable learning opportunities with nonmainstream students. Building on this…

This article explains the apparent failure to communicate between science education researchers, policy makers, and staff at state and district offices of education. Each group is a stakeholder in K-12 education. Policy makers specify courses of action to meet the needs of an educational system, state and district staff work to implement these…

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…