Background/Context: This article is part of a broader investigation of the sociocultural history of rural education in Mexico that focuses on federally financed "social experiments," the main purpose of which was to find "effective" methods to educate and "civilize" the rural population, especially Indigenous people.…

Background: Scholars in the fields of early childhood education (ECE) and multicultural education have argued that preschools are key sites in which children learn about race and racism. However, there is little research on how teachers negotiate conflicting tensions and enact antiracist approaches within Head Start (HS) classrooms that use…

After summarizing the results from two studies the author conducted in Montessori middle schools, the chapter discusses nine characteristics of Montessori education in relation to various theoretical perspectives on education and development. [This article originally appeared as NSSE Yearbook Vol. 113, No. 1.]

Background/Context: Despite decades of research, the persistence of the gap in student achievement between disadvantaged minority students and their middle-class peers remains unexplained. Purpose/Objective: The purpose of the current article is to propose a new model of the achievement gap. Research Design: Data were analyzed from three…

Background/Context: As of 2006, "social justice" is frequently appearing as the centerpiece of numerous educational settings and spaces, such as article and book titles, teacher activist organizations, teacher education policy documents and mission statements, and scholarly conferences. Unfortunately, the organizations and individuals employing…

Background: Between 1910 and 1930, IQ tests were introduced to and institutionalized in American schools. IQ testing represents an important component of the first wave of test-driven educational reform in American history, but surprisingly, there is relatively little research focusing on public educators' perception of these tests at the time,…

Background/Context: Recent research indicates that social studies is being "squeezed" from the elementary curriculum as instructional time is shifted to language arts and mathematics in response to state testing and the federal No Child Left Behind Act, especially in schools serving poor students and students of color. However, less is…

When the problems to be solved are structural problems of society, it is argued, blaming teachers is simply shifting the focus. Also discussed are potential effects of the Holmes Group proposals on who enrolls in teacher education, who is hired by school systems, and what is the science of education. (MT)

Article discusses different well-known educational philosophies and how improvements can be made in the educational system. (MM)

Discusses four truths about high school sports: rules of the game are unassailable, the purpose of the game is winning, teammates are people who depend upon one another, and coaches are people to trust. The educational value of school sport is the pursuit, not the attainment, of excellence. (SM)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's educational and political thought is compared to that of John Locke. Rousseau's theories, as expressed in "Emile," are placed in the context of some of that author's other works to show how his educational theories can seem practical in terms of his views on social and political inequality. (PP)

Curriculum developers assume that tasks to be learned are basically procedural and can be broken down into component elements. This approach may be useful for managing instruction, but it can interfere with the quality of education. True proficiency does not depend on following rules and procedures. (PP)