Critical review of "Education Week's" annual compilation "Quality Counts." (PKP)

Britain is an increasingly secular society, yet religious education is a compulsory school subject. Is its compulsory status justifiable? Religious education was made compulsory in 1944 partly so as to support the moral values underlying democracy. This civic justification faded after the war, but even today one official justification of religious…

Criticisms directed at the I-E Scale are: that it is too general and should be broken into components, that it is politically biased, that subjects respond to items on the scale on the basis of the perceived social desirability of the alternatives, and that predicted negative correlations between it, academic achievement and achievement motivation…

Argues that the rising tide of "efficiency" in contemporary education often masks reductions in educational quality and equity and efforts to reduce public investments in education. Analyzes historical and comparative examples in U.S., U.K., and Australian reform movements; the methodology of comparative education; and ongoing reforms in…

I discuss philosophical and methodological difficulties in researching young children's spiritual development. I describe my research involving detailed discussions with, and observations of, 14 teachers of 4- and 5-year-olds. I highlight key issues, including what distinguishes spiritual from other sorts of development, the nature of children's…

A critique of the Arts, Americans, and Education Panel report, "Coming to Our Senses," for its study methods, its national policy recommendations, and its rhetorical styling. (SJL)

Contends that the Bush Administration's "America 2000" plan is a political and ideological statement that substitutes the logic of the market for the principles of democracy and ignores the need for multiculturalism in the schools. Provides some general recommendations for educational reform. (30 endnotes) (MLF)

In this article, the author discusses the contradictory goals of several groups and individuals that are waging war against social studies and the historians' attitudes in response to this war. He stresses that he is not claiming that these "strange bedfellows," as he comes to call them, that are attacking social studies are working in…

In the opening years of the 21st Century it would appear that a new development model has emerged supported by multilateral assistance groups such as the UN Group, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and various NGOs. This paper will: (a) briefly sketch the emergence of the major concepts and proposed actions which form the new model for…

Considers the issues policymakers must confront if they intend to use technology as a means of raising educational quality in America's schools. Explores competing investment priorities and the necessary alterations in pedagogy, classroom management, and the role of the teacher. (GR)

While researchers have paid a lot of attention to dimensions of quality transcending the content of education, in the course of the last decade a lot of attention has been invested by policy makers in the description of the kind of learning that is expected from schools (not in the least in the early years). That is why the topic of curriculum…

This article challenges three predominant narratives on educational globalization--"educational restructuring," "educational institutionalism," and "educational multilateralism"--and shows how they have largely failed to propose alternatives to the neoliberal order. I connect two disparate literatures--on educational globalization and…

In recent years, state legislatures, state education departments, and advocacy groups in more than thirty states have sponsored education adequacy studies, which aim to determine objectively the amount of funding needed to provide all students with a meaningful opportunity for an adequate education. Based on a detailed analysis of judicial and…

This paper traces the history of a series of early studies designed to identify and document unusually successful compensatory education projects. One of the major characteristics of the early studies is that they were based upon review and analysis of existing literature. Although they used similar data bases they varied considerably in…

The paper argues that a critical realist perspective can contribute to a critique of evidence-based practice, while at the same time not abandoning the idea of evidence altogether. The paper is structured around a number of related themes: the sociopolitics of "evidence-based"; epistemological roots and a critical realist critique; the debate in…