This study proposes an elaboration of the human development capability approach by theorizing empowerment capabilities as an essential aspect of the education of excluded village girls. Seeking to explain Chinese village girls' demand for schooling, the article identifies intangible and instrumental capabilities that have often been…

Most existing research indicates that working students perform more poorly than do full-time students on standardized achievement tests. However, we know there are wide international variations in this gap. This article shows that national and international contexts help to explain the gap in the academic performance between working and nonworking…

Since the 1980s, school bullying--"Ijime"--has been a major concern of educational policy in Japan. In Japanese schools, homeroom teachers provide guidance for students' psychological and social development, in addition to academic development. Homeroom teachers spend significant time counseling students, visiting their families, and developing a…

This article uses life course theory and family bargaining theory to explore how decisions over schooling are negotiated in poorer Mexican families for whom compulsory basic education is a luxury. It explores educational decision making by conceptualizing education in terms of the way it meshes with other social relations and institutions across…

In this article, the authors use recently collected data from the "Educatodos" program in Honduras to analyze attrition, an outcome that has received little attention in previous analyses of alternative school effectiveness. "Educatodos" began in the 1990s with radio courses in primary grades mainly for rural adults. Through the years the program…

This article explores the establishment of schools set up by Muslim communities in Cape Town, South Africa, after 1994. Twelve schools have been set up across the city: four primary schools, three high schools, four schools that have grades 1-12, and one school that has grades 1-3 and 8-10. They are registered with the Western Cape Education…

Is classroom practice becoming more homogeneous around the world, or will teachers continue to work very differently across different countries? This article addresses those questions by comparing first- and second-grade reading lessons in France, Guinea, and the United States. It shows that what reading lessons in each country have in common is…