This blueprint focuses on the policies that connect professional development activities and that support and make possible an effective implementation of a state system of professional development. It highlights policy principles and essential policy areas that build or sustain an integrated system--a system that ensures quality in all settings in…

Hollow reforms, like proposals that emphasize get-tough accountability over support for educators and widespread choice over quality neighborhood schools, enjoy their share of supporters. As the author watched the choice and accountability movements gain momentum across the nation, she concluded that curriculum and instruction were far more…

The main hypothesis here is that the notion of economic and social development has been misconceived by most stakeholders in matters of development. This misconception is the main cause of underdevelopment in Kenya, which leads to all the reasons most authors and commentators have given to explain Kenya's situation. Therefore, it is only possible…

Recognizing the potential of accountability tests to alter classroom instruction, an overview is provided of the federal government's past influence on educational assessments. The past 50 years has witnessed the function of federally engendered educational assessments shift from monitoring the use of federal funds for programs prescribed for…

This paper contributes to the debate over how the federal government can best help state and local authorities improve student achievement by providing examples from other countries of innovations in the role of the national government. The authors believe that the degree to which foreign policy structures parallel those of the United States are…

In many school districts, the pressure to raise test scores has created overnight celebrity status for formative assessment. Its powers to raise student achievement have been touted, however, without attending to the research on which these claims were based. Sociocultural learning theory provides theoretical grounding for understanding how…

This article takes as its focus the "and" in discourses of teaching and learning. Drawing upon the work of Deleuze and Guattari, I argue that the "and" signifies a complex, sticky relationship between teaching and learning, and that we can radicalise our conception of "and" to bring forward a range of different discourses. The argument suggests…

This paper presents interviews with Dr. Jon Mueller and Dr. Paula Harris. Dr. Jon Mueller is a professor of Psychology at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Dr. Paula Harris is a professor in the Department of Language, Literature, and Arts at Jackson Community College in Jackson, Michigan. In these interviews, they present a…

In this article, the author is asking that teacher educators respond to two papers that recommend political activity. Becoming politically active is one way of reacting to the situation that currently faces teacher educators, but political activity is not for everyone. It is time-consuming, exhausting, and at times depressing. It is also…

This publication shares the argument that communities should "blur the lines" between learning that happens inside the school and out in the community, during and outside of the school day. Important reform and system-building efforts are focused on 1) building more connected and aligned learning experiences inside schools; 2) creating extended…

A modern understanding of the cell and its functions has been translated into learning goals for K-12 students by Project 2061's "Benchmarks for Science Literacy" and by the National Research Council's "National Science Education Standards" ("NSES"). Nearly every state has used these national documents to develop…

This article presents the author's comments on the article by Keith and Ender on sociology's disciplinary core being reflected in introductory sociology textbooks. The author mentions that Keith and Ender claim that if sociology has a disciplinary core, it "would logically be located in the introductory textbook." Furthermore, since a science is…

Test results and employer complaints indicate that the average high school graduate hasn't learned enough and that he brings that deficit with him to college. As remedy, Chester Finn argues for uniform educational standards and measurements in a transparent reporting system that gives families the information necessary to scrutinize and accept or…

The aim of this paper is to critique the dichotomy between the legal regulation of disability discrimination in Australia, particularly in the State of New South Wales, and inclusion policy as espoused by public education authorities. It is argued that the law and inclusion policy are aiming at different outcomes. As a result, through legal…

What is the task of educators at a time when mainstream American culture is increasingly characterized by a declining interest in and misgiving about national politics? How one answers this question will have a grave impact not only on higher education but on the future of democratic public life. There are no simple solutions says author Henry…