In 1991 Arizona embarked on a program to change schools and make them more accountable for educational achievement. The instrument of reform was an assessment program known as the Arizona Student Assessment Program (ASAP), the most notable feature of which was a performance assessment that was added to an already extensive battery of…

The current political conflict over school policy making is raised as a source of political learning for the young. It is hypothesized that the current politicization of educational issues influences students as never before and that this influence has great potential for re-shaping perceptions and evaluations of the political world. In the last…

A conceptual framework and a unique data collection technique are proposed as a means for studying the relationship between cognitive structure and political awareness in children. Most researchers have dealt with cognitive development and political socialization research by examining children in different grade levels at one point in time.…

Both English Canada and the United States are essentially liberal fragments of European society. But in Canada, liberalism must vie with touches of Toryism and socialism; as a result, the common good receives more formal attention than in the U.S. The extent of variation in local financial resources for education is potentially under the control…

Research techniques for measuring political learning during a campaign are examined. Micro-analytic techniques involve intensive analysis of individuals. Large amounts of data on the psychological and sociological settings of subjects are gathered, along with information on opinions toward past and emerging political situations. Macro-analytic…

Even though public school districts are structured with the expectation of responsive governance, most school boards are not particularly responsive to their constituents. School boards from politically contentious districts tend to be more responsive, but they have even less success challenging the dominance of the superintendent than do less…

In this collection of seven speeches from the University of Missouri Conference on Censorship, writers focus on the various aspects of censorship. Speeches are by (1) Milton Meltzer, who lauds those writers who were forced to battle with censors; (2) Enid Olson, who explores the censorship problems faced by teachers and school librarians; (3)…

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role played by the media in the 1972 U.S. Senate election in Virginia during the Scott and Spong campaigns. Its primary interest is the use of television, particularly the intense blitz by the Scott organization, which is viewed as a significant variable in the Scott victory. The case study seeks to…

This pamphlet is the third in a series of guides developed to help college and high school teachers incorporate information about Inner Asia into their courses. A discussion of the diplomatic tradition of Inner Asia is presented. The author documents a strong political tradition that made possession of the Orkhon valley in the steppe region…

Examines the increasingly Orwellian inaugural addresses of the last two decades and how these speeches make use of the mythical principle of "unification," leading to a sacralization of American society and its placement into a cosmic order. Offers these mythic elements as an example of the pervasiveness of Oldspeak and mythic rhetoric…

Discusses issues concerning forced migration. In today's climate, there is an increased willingness to intervene in other countries' affairs to avert the creation of new floods of immigrants or to assist internally displaced populations, and there is the expectation of large-scale and voluntary returns of refugees in asylum. (SLD)

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…

This teacher's guide corresponds to the textbook "American Political Behavior" and provides resource materials and teaching suggestions. There is a lesson plan for each lesson in the course. The textbook tries to capture the vitality and drama of politics through the use of cases that describe the political activities of typical citizens…

Since the collapse of state socialism in East Germany in 1989, political discourse among citizens has changed dramatically. There is now talk of democracy, tolerance, the individual, and democratic socialism. This paper examines the impact of this new discourse upon citizenship education in what was formerly East Germany specifically focusing on…

A key determinant of the persistence of preadult's political predispositions is the strength of the residues of preadult political socialization. Neither the strength of those residues, nor the impact of major socialization experiences on attitude strength, has been examined closely in the past. Political socialization proceeds through a series of…