"Multicultural Education Policies in Canada and the United States" uses a dialogical approach to examine responses to increasing cultural and racial diversity in both countries. It compares and contrasts foundational myths and highlights the sociopolitical contexts that affect the conditions of citizenship, access to education, and…

Accountability for students with disabilities who receive special education services is now a result of policy requirements in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004 and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. Together these pieces of federal legislation require that students participate in statewide…

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) gives states wide discretion to define what students must learn, how that knowledge should be tested, what test scores constitute proficiency, set standards for high school graduation rates, teacher qualifications, school safety and many other aspects of school performance. As a result, states are largely free to define…

In an effort to increase the knowledge about professional development programs that promote strong instructional leaders, the Wallace Foundation recently commissioned a study of innovative principal professional development programs and the policy and funding mechanisms that support them. In fall 2003, the foundation awarded a grant to a team of…

The National Assessment Summit was designed to bring together users and producers of assessments and engage them in a discussion of unmet assessment needs and untapped assessment capacities. The meeting was truly a summit in that national foreign language organizations and associations were asked to nominate representatives to bring their…

Educators must work together to ensure that every American young person has access to the skills and experiences needed to become a full participant, can articulate their understanding of how media shapes perceptions, and has been socialized into the emerging ethical standards that should shape their practices as media makers and participants in…

This "Handbook" provides a comprehensive and international representation of state-of-the art research, theory, and practice related to principal areas in which significant developments are occurring in the study of literacy and technology. It offers a glimpse of the commonalities faced by literacy educators around the world, together…

In this article I highlight the challenges facing a law lecturer in a multicultural society in transformation where the student is being prepared to serve society in different occupational fields as a professional person. I indicate that the law itself cannot effect change. For this we need properly trained lawyers. For an effective transformation…

Across the country, states are developing more unified and comprehensive education systems for young children. The authors of this article outline seven features that help connect various early education programs across a state. First, supportive governance ensures that all parts of an early care and education system complement, rather than…

This document describes a work-based learning approach designed to integrate work and learning at the workplace and thereby help young people develop the skills required for changing workplaces. The following considerations in designing work-based programs are discussed: the trend toward high performance workplaces and changes in the way work is…

This report provides statewide analyses of graduate programs in education, library and information sciences, and of programs at all levels in law and legal studies in Illinois, preparatory to the public universities' review of these programs during 1995-96. Based on the Priorities, Quality, and Productivity (PQP) initiative undertaken by the…

This critique of the "America 2000" educational reform initiative claims that its fundamental proposals highlight "old" ideas based on a "puritanic" perfect society with little attention to equity and the multidimensional needs of such groups as African-American at-risk students. The paper discusses the impact of the…

This report provides a summary and assessment of the Priorities, Quality and Productivity (PQP) efforts during 1994-95 of Illinois community colleges and independent colleges and universities, collectively, and of individual public universities. Emphasis is on implementation of recommendations of the Illinois Board of Higher Education of November,…

This two-part document summarizes and analyzes the implications of a national study of adult literacy in Canada that included home interviews with a representative sample of 13,571 Canadians between the ages of 16 and 69. Part 1 summarizes the study's objectives, methodology, and findings. Among the main findings are the following: (1) 16% of…

This anthology focuses on rural education improvement that will prepare students for the 21st century. Articles address issues related to school funding, educational technology, curriculum offerings, state and federal policies, the role of rural teachers and administrators in school reform, cultural diversity, and changing socioeconomic factors in…