Eminent historian and educator Larry Cuban provides a thorough examination of, and challenge to, past and present definitions of what constitutes educational success in the US. Cuban argues that in the history of American education, standards of achievement and inadequacy--as well as the reform efforts issuing from them--have been neither stable…

The Latinx/a/o population is the largest and fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States, yet higher education attainment for this community is among the lowest. "Latinx/a/os in Higher Education: Exploring Identity, Pathways, and Success" addresses topics relevant to the experience of Latinx/a/o students and professionals and…

To do research that really makes a difference--the authors of this book argue--social scientists need questions and methods that reflect the complexity of the world. Bringing together a consortium of voices across a variety of fields, "Methods that Matter" offers compelling and successful examples of mixed methods research that do just…

"Trajectories of Education in the Arab World" gives a broad yet detailed historical and geographical overview of education in Arab countries. Drawing on pre-modern and modern educational concepts, systems, and practices in the Arab world, this book examines the impact of Western cultural influence, the opportunities for reform and the…

How did standardized tests become the measure of performance in our public schools? In this compelling work, Mark J. Garrison attempts to answer this question by analyzing the development of standardized testing, from the days of Horace Mann and Alfred Binet to the current scene. Approaching the issue from a sociohistorical perspective, the author…

Although the concept of human potential accurately reflects central features of human nature, its current use perpetuates traditional myths of fixity, harmony, and value, calculated to cause untold mischief in social and educational practice. This book aims to demythologize the concept of potential. It shows its roots in genuine aspects of human…

During the mid-nineteenth century, Americans created the functional equivalent of earlier state religious establishments. Supported by mandatory taxation, purportedly inclusive, and vested with messianic promise, public schooling, like the earlier established churches, was touted as a bulwark of the Republic and as an essential agent of moral and…

Based on anthropological and historical inquiry, this book proposes and illustrates a new approach to the comparative analysis of educational policy. It investigates cultural conceptions of human potential as they inform social and economic goals of education by reviewing the transitions of Western countries, Japan, and the People's Republic of…

The author raises questions in analyses of educational policy issues and suggests possible answers to them. The questions concern the nature of changes in the educational system from a given proposed policy change, the magnitude of such change, and the length of time needed to secure the anticipated magnitude of change. Competency-based education…

A study of language attitudes in Sub-Saharan Africa, an area of 45 countries and over 1,700 languages, attempts to: (1) pinpoint attitudinal patterns towards European and indigenous languages; (2) give these attitudes historical perspective; (3) identify attitudes toward language use in education; (4) encourage language research on attitudes in…

As is true in all societies, the American schooling process is a formalized effort designed to induct the individual into his/her society. During the course of the 1930s', through the 1940's, and on into the cold war years of the 1950's, a great emphasis was placed on citizenship education; a societal desire to have all American youth…

This book discusses the educational significance of three concepts that are cited as representative of enduring and central themes in the liberal tradition: that people should be rational and autonomous, that they should have equality of opportunity, and that individuals can limit state authority. Developments in American public education are…

The paper examines interpretations of educational development in western Europe since the 1960s and suggests that equality of opportunity has been the most pervasive theme underlying educational policy and development. Most often used to describe educational development are (1) demographic and economic data, (2) analyses of structural changes in…

Contributors from Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, and the United States describe how primary-age children in these anglophone countries are learning in the language of their home. The book demonstrates that monolingual schooling in a multicultural society fails to meet the needs of bilingual children. It argues that linguistic minorities…

This paper, the fourth of a series, covers the impact of the Workers' Educational Association (WEA) on the field of adult education in England. The content is presented in four sections. The first one briefly covers the origins of the WEA. Section 2, a review of WEA's founding principles, concentrates on the objectives of working class…