Black, Wilson, and Yao have identified a very real tension felt by teachers today that has been created by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in the United States and the National Curriculum Assessment in the United Kingdom. In many schools, formative assessment has either taken a backseat to summative assessment use, or many of the formative assessment…

Since the onset of the Great Recession, the U.S. labor market has been reeling. Public concern has largely focused on the unemployment rate, which rose to double digits and has since been stalled at just over 9 percent. This rate is unacceptably high, and macroeconomic policy efforts have been unsuccessful in bringing it down. The overall…

This paper draws on the theory of Basil Bernstein and on more recent applications of it by Rob Moore, John Beck and Michael Young to respond to recent calls for the replacement of discipline-based university faculties and departments with "problem-based" curricula and programmes of study. It considers, particularly, the potential…

In April 2010, Arizona passed the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act, commonly known as Senate Bill (SB) 1070. The bill provides for the following: (1) that law enforcement officials may inquire about a person's citizenship status if they have been stopped, detained, or arrested for some other reason and provided that the…

With the passing of the Gun Free School Act of 1994, the 1990s bore witness to the birth of zero-tolerance policies. During the remainder of that decade, several school shootings occurred that solidified zero-tolerance in schools across the United States. With the possibility of threats constantly increasing, school personnel having a thorough…

Summer school makes an unlikely candidate for a bright spot in education reform during these difficult economic times. It occupies a long-held negative place in U.S. culture, prompting dread in the hearts of many former and current students. Summer school conjures up images of sitting in hot classrooms and receiving remedial instruction while…

The internet continues to provide new and interesting solutions to age-old problems; this paper explores how education could benefit from online solutions. The history of public education in the U.S. is fractured at best, based on a system reliant on state and local control. As new legislation came into place to meet the needs of civil rights…

Current neoliberal educational policies are impacting young children and their teachers in the United States in many ways. Young children and teachers find themselves in vulnerable positions within a framework of an imperialist education in the age of standardization. Part of the struggle is to open spaces of decolonization that include home…

What higher education state policy issues will be at the forefront of discussion and legislative activity throughout the United States in 2010? Provided herein is the consensus of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) state relations and policy analysis staff, informed by continual scanning of state policy activities,…

In recent years, colleges and universities in the United States have had an on-again, off-again relationship with Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) units on their campuses. This article discusses the history of how these units came into being and the benefits of having ROTC to the students, the institution, and the nation. While there is…

U.S. education is at a transformational moment. The choices we make will determine whether our schools become collaborative and democratic or prescriptive and authoritarian. The policies proposed by the federal government for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act will create some good schools for some students while…

Schooling in the U.S. is increasingly understood through the lenses of science and accountability. From the National Research Council's Scientific Research in Education (SRE) to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), colleges and schools have faced a marked increase (or steady reinforcement) in practices which conform to principles of scientific…

Ever since the founding of this country, equality, freedom, and justice have been the underlying values of America's political and educational systems. More than 150 years later, higher education policymakers in the United States began to incorporate these values into their admissions decisions by including ethnic and racial diversity as a stated…

In education, reform tends to follow cycles, often bouncing from one extreme to another without considering the possibility of incorporating multiple perspectives simultaneously. Policies aimed at helping more underrepresented students enter college and complete degrees have bounced from one pole to another, embracing access as the primary goal…

The author of this paper describes the responsibilities of the National Assessment Governing Board, of which she served as a member from November 1997 to September 2004. The Board is unlike any other board of which she has been a member. At the quarterly meetings, the Board not only discusses and makes major policy decisions but determines the…