Reviews the role that philanthropic foundations have played in educational support, research, and reform since 1900. (GC)

The article examines problems in the U.S. public school system. It describes the factory and corporate models of education and suggests that, despite the conservative origins of the current wave of school reform, progress is possible. The article also discusses sociocultural factors and the importance of theory in school reform. (SM)

Considers the professionalization of progress and educational expertise among Iceland's teacher educators and other education reformers in the 1980s and 1990s as an example of how the creation of learned discourse is linked to the phenomenon of professionalism. Reform discourse is interpreting using the conceptual framework of Bourdieu. (GLR)

An educator reflects on preservice teachers in his class who were concerned with issues of interpersonal relations and classroom dynamics but not with socioeconomic, intercultural, and political contexts of education. Nevertheless, there were some faculty and students involved in urban schools bringing reconstructionist ideas of education for…

Addresses key factors that influence the academic and social performance of minority and at-risk youth, including lack of role models, societal expectations and realities, ineffective practices, and patterns of school organization. The article provides suggestions for what teachers can do and what schools can do through staff development. (SM)