Racial inequality in education is a serious problem in the United States. The latest government attempt to address this problem was the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). This study used the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002) to examine the relationship between race and composite reading and math scores among Black and White…

In some places in the world teachers still receive professional esteem commensurate with the vital task they have chosen to fulfil. In the US this is not currently the case. Even the lip service that used to be paid to teachers seems to have vanished as the perceived crisis in the schools is more and more blamed on teachers--and especially teacher…

This article examines teachers' relationships with foreign students during eras marked by large waves of immigration to the United States and by policies that shifted from cultural assimilation (1900-1920) to present-day accountability. We compare teachers' understandings of and instructional practices regarding foreign-born English language…

Special educators wear many different hats in our current educational system. Due to recent federal legislation, they may be required to wear a couple of new ones. This article provides a glimpse into past roles and begins to lay some groundwork for the future role of special educators in a Response to Intervention (RTI) context. This article (a)…

A federal policy in the United States has required sweeping changes in K-12 education. With No Child Left Behind legislation, schools are challenged to create conditions that bring each student to federally-set academic proficiency levels. Many schools have become more attentive to data about student performance and how it can inform their…

There are approximately 1.5 million children in the United States who go to sleep each night without a home of their own (National Center on Family Homelessness, 2009). In this article, we provide insights into how educators can create greater classroom support, particularly in literacy learning and development, for this population. Drawing from…

Theorizing about teacher education and democracy is a challenging task in the year 2009. According to this author, the antidemocratic forces of the social efficiency movement have intensified with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, and recent activities of the Obama Department of Education have ratcheted up social efficiency's premise…

Because of instructional requirements imposed by No Child Left Behind legislation, many of today's teachers are asked to focus more on the students who perform below proficiency than on those who excel. By requiring all students to be mathematically proficient by 2014, the law is, in effect, negatively impacting the education of those students who…

Beginning in 2007, federal regulations to two major education laws gave state departments of education the option to develop an alternate assessment based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS) for some students with disabilities. The regulations stated that the AA-MAS was intended for students who were being instructed in the grade-level…

The No Child Left Behind legislation, by legitimizing a stark, one-size-fits-all, industrial model of education, has denied the inherent complexity and richness of what teachers do. Discussing teaching in terms of Chaos Theory, Chapin explains that while excellent teaching may occur at the edge of chaos, it is not chaotic. There are patterns…

The pivotal role of teachers in establishing positive, supportive, inclusive learning environments based on the implementation of empirically-supported teaching strategies (IDEA, 1997, 2004: NCLB, 2002) is uncontestable. Nonetheless, it is not uncommon to find classrooms characterized by teacher reprimands for inappropriate behavior, coercive…

In recent months the United States scrutinized the reauthorization of two critical pieces of legislation--those of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Law and the No Child Left Behind Act--and disagreed on many of the issues involved in these two pieces of legislation. We believe this is an opportunity to engage in a deeper examination of the…

Research shows that Hispanic second language students are not as successful as their English-speaking peers in school. The problem is in part due to several factors: curriculum deliverance in a foreign language, cultural differences, and family/school disconnect. Current census reports reveal that Hispanic populations in the United States, and…

In the face of the century-old call for democracy in education by John Dewey, this paper explores how and why teachers have been systemically removed from efficacy within the educational system in which they live and work. The paper examines historical trends that work to limit teachers' institutional power and become obstacles to teacher voice.…

So much of teaching is now driven by data (i.e., test scores) and dictated by "best practices" that teachers are losing confidence in their own creativity. Yet, despite these unfortunate consequences of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the important work of teachers remains unchanged. That work is the work of connecting personally and…