In Spain, the existence of a central government and the governments of 17 autonomous communities, each with its own authority and control over educational matters, results in variation and inequality in educational policies toward Gypsies. The conservative or progressive tendencies of political parties in office and their influence on education as…

The three current presidential hopefuls with experience as state governors have records on education that offer voters an unusually detailed preview of what the nation's schools might expect if any of the three should win the White House next year. Those candidates--New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, on the Democratic side, and former Governors…

No Child Left Behind and other education reforms promoting high-stakes testing, accountability, and competitive markets continue to receive wide support from politicians and public figures. This support, the author suggests, has been achieved by situating education within neoliberal policies that argue that such reforms are necessary within an…

All public schools are required to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in order to avoid stiff penalties, per the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. This presents a unique challenge for comprehensive career and technical (CTE) schools. While there is an emphasis on the CTE path that students are interested in pursuing, academic areas must be…

One wrong assumption about reality is sufficient to ensure the failure of education policy. For a variety of reasons, too many people have ignored realities in policies such as the No Child Left Behind Act. Individuals who are serious about reforming or improving education, general or special, must confront realities in at least the following…

There is evidence that people with learning disabilities who offend are treated differently within the criminal justice system compared to non-disabled offenders. As their treatment depends on decisions made by professionals within the criminal justice system, this study set out to explore the attitudes of these professionals. Semi-structured…

Whether a law can bring about change has been an important topic of debate in the literatures of law, sociology and education. With reference to the 2006 revision of compulsory schooling legislation in China, this article examines the functions and limits of the use of law to effect educational change. It explores why and how China continues to…

This article discusses why the work of central-office administrators and building administrators seem so disconnected from one another. The fact that central-office administrators and principals seem to travel in orbits with different paths, with seemingly few areas of significant overlap, has a decidedly negative impact on the ability of the…

This article documents the experiences of a single working mother as she advocates for her daughter and attempts to negotiate a shifting educational landscape that she knows has dire consequences for her child. It also documents institutional responses to this mother's attempts at advocacy while they also adapt to the shifting landscape that…

In this article, the authors highlight the impact of alternate assessment on curriculum content for students with severe disabilities. Alternate assessment is a requirement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments of 1997 and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 to ensure that students with the most significant…

International law--specifically the United Nations "Convention on the Rights of the Child"--makes it clear that all children have a right to attend school. Ontario's "Education Act," like that of other provinces, requires children between age six and sixteen to be in school, with penalties for parents who don't play their part.…

In recent years, a handful of education scholars have begun to cast a wider net for advice on how to engineer successful school turnarounds. The need for turnaround strategies that work is more timely than ever. Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the list of schools identified to be in need of help grows longer by the year, making…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 allows states to assess students with "significant cognitive disabilities" on "alternative content standards" for determining adequate yearly progress. Alternative standards that align with regular content standards can allow for a continuum of performance expectations from very basic to…

This article describes a pay-for-performance system developed for Minnesota nursing homes. In effect, nursing homes can retain a greater proportion of the difference between their costs and the average costs on the basis of their quality scores. The quality score is a derived and weighted composite measure currently composed of five elements:…

Although there is a great deal of interest in the concept of literacy coaching in the wake of the No Child Left Behind legislation, and a number of programs exist that incorporate this technique, there has been little reliable research done on the impact of literacy coaches on student achievement. Currently, the information that is available…