This paper is one of two which bring together leading educational researchers to consider some of the key challenges facing democracy and education during the twenty-first century, including rising social and economic inequality, political instability, and the existential threats of global pandemics and climate change. In this paper, key…

Given the increasingly global nature of marketized school choice policies, this makes it even more crucial to investigate how the multiple scales, forms, and emphases of school choice in different countries are influenced by particular political, economic, and cultural conditions. While much of the critical research on school choice policies has…

This article examines national conservative political advocacy groups' growing interest in local politics, and analyzes how they form alliances and gain political power. Following efforts to restrict collective bargaining for Wisconsin public employees, Kenosha school board members' attempts to legally protect teachers' rights provoked concern…

To gain a complete understanding of teaching at all levels, positions taken in recent books on teaching are criticized. Personal, political, and cultural factors must be considered in a thoughtful analysis of teaching. (RM)

The textbook dominates curricula at the elementary, secondary, and even college levels. The ideological, political, and economic sources of its production, distribution, and reception are examined. (RM)

Discusses the "culture and commerce" surrounding standardized textbook production in the United States, focusing on college texts. To end "female enclaves" and other industry problems will require a long-term, politically and theoretically grounded ethnographic investigation that follows a textbook from its writing to its…

An issue of importance to educators deals with how textbooks are chosen and published. This topic is discussed as a part of a larger theoretical debate about cultural processes and products. (DF)

The current language of educational reform embodies authoritarian and anti-intellectual attitudes of a powerful alliance of New Right ideologues; this language diverts our attention from many of the root causes of our problems, subordinating educational goals to economic goals and creating a two-tier society. (TE)

Responds to Romberg's reaction and argues that the present conservative social context will determine the use to which the "Standards" are put. Expresses concern that unequal school finance policies in providing technologically rich classroom environments will result in educational stratification. (MDH)

Assumes that America's economic difficulties and resulting social tensions will continue over the next two decades. Predicts consequent negative and positive trends in curricular content and organization and in decision-making processes affecting curricular change. Suggests that social change is crucial if curricular change is to be effective.…

Discusses ways of approaching text and textbooks as embodiments of a larger process of cultural politics, focusing on the analysis of the relationships involved in their production, contexts, use, and reading. Newer forms of analysis that emphasize the politics of how students actually create meanings around texts are reviewed. (SLD)

Discusses the ideological and social grounding and effects of the NCTM's "Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics" and "Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics." Includes issues regarding the financial crisis in education, inequality in schools, the possibilities and limitations of a mathematics…