This article describes how, in our research with Head Start teachers in American Samoa, we combined video-cued multivocal ethnographic method (VCE) with traditional ethnographic approaches to understand our interlocutors' perspectives on curriculum and pedagogy, and the contrast between them and mainland US teachers using the same federally…

Background: Although most research on teacher sorting has taken place in the United States, where teacher distribution favors more advantaged children, there is some evidence that the distribution of teachers across schools is much more equitable in South Korea. This is the first study to directly compare teacher distribution across schools and…

We discuss oral history interviews with academics who laid the foundation of research and pedagogies in daycare for under three-year-olds in Europe and North and South America since the 1970s. Their work is clearly embedded in the social-political context of their country: the left-wing programmes for disadvantaged families in the U.S.A.;…

Using data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2003 and 2007 administrations, this study examines international trends in technology use and explores the international patterns in how teacher-directed, student-use of technology is related to eighth grade mathematics achievement. Descriptive patterns in…

Economic inequality is high and rising in a number of developed countries, including in the United Kingdom and the United States. There are growing concerns that this may have negative implications for equality of opportunity, and the extent to which social disadvantage is transmitted across generations. It is widely believed that providing…

In the knowledge-based economy that characterizes the 21st century, most previously industrialized countries are making massive investments in education. The United States ranks poorly on many leading indicators, however, primarily because of the great inequality in educational inputs and outcomes between White students and non-Asian…

The aesthetic preferences of 224 Jamaican children and 558 previously-studied American children are reported in this paper. Both samples of subjects included male and female children from advantaged and disadvantaged backgrounds. The age groups studied were 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds and a combined group of children 7-years-old and older. Each…

This book presents a review and synthesis of the early care and education system in the United States -- a system that now faces increasing enrollment, an underpaid workforce, and limited budgets. A substantial number of trained early care and education professionals are projected to leave the field over the next 10 years due to noncompetitive…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) "Chance Favors the Prepared Mind": Report Finds that Students in the Highest-Achieving States Score As Well…

This book compares Israeli and U.S. programs to integrate high-risk youth into society. An introduction offers background on the context for such programs in Israel and the United States. Chapter 1, "Changing Youths' Attitudes: Well-Meaning Attempts in the United States," describes programs lacking a key long-term component. Chapter 2,…

The problems of the British educational system are viewed from an American perspective. The author compares present educational problems and prospects in Britain and the U.S., and describes Britain's policies on enrollment decline, nursery schools, disadvantaged children, secondary school organization, curriculum, examinations, teacher education,…

A problem with interpretations of differences in mathematic achievement between students from Asian countries and those from the United States is the seemingly implicit assumption of the cultural homogeneity of Asian societies. Researchers rarely measure the effects of variables within cultures that are hypothesized to be related to differences…