The article analyses a new educational development in Poland, that is, free democratic schools, which are grassroots initiatives of parents seeking an alternative to the traditional pedagogies of the public schooling. These schools form a broader network. Based on ethnographic research carried out at eight such schools over five years, the authors…

This article examines parent engagement in a Los Angeles portfolio district reform. Based on data from a 3-year study, we use the lens of democratic theory to examine the design and implementation of mechanisms seeking parent input in the selection of plans to operate low-performing and new schools. We find that despite significant efforts to move…

In comparing one public school to another, discussions frequently include talk concerning the socio economics of a school or district, which then leads to talk about the advantages that one socioeconomic setting has over another. Educators tend to agree that low academic achievement frequently associated with a low socioeconomic status is a…

Education has rarely been absent from local and national public discourse. Throughout the history of modern education spanning more than a century, individuals have as a culture lamented the failures of public schooling, often making such claims based on assumptions instead of any nuanced consideration of the many influences on teaching and…

Political theorists have long argued that the average citizen's lack of information and lack of clear policy preferences provide the rationale for public policy to be guided by experts and elites. Others counter that it is precisely the practice of deference to elites that perpetuates and even exacerbates the problem of apathetic and uninformed…

Early desegregation efforts simply followed the authoritarian model predominant in American schools since the 1920s. As schools have become more democratic, however, so has the process of desegregating urban school systems. (GC)

Explores parental participation in school governance utilizing data obtained from field research in Uganda. Argues that parent perceptions of the accountability of the school affect the way they participate in education. Indicates that accountability is one of the crucial factors for realizing local democracy through decentralization. (CAJ)

Parents are being invited to step in to help improve public education, but they enter with neither resources nor power. Real parental involvement requires commitment to organizing parents and restructuring schools, as well as inventing rich versions of diverse educational democracies of difference. Schools must function like meaningful…

While school choice offers inner-city parents a means of educating their children well, it represents further deterioration of society's commitment to educating all students. This paper describes: the push for private school choice; parent choice in context (historical context and failures of desegregation); and segregationist strategies and…