Community building has been a key concern for a wide array of educational projects. Recently, educational theories concerned about social justice have begun to challenge assumptions about community in U.S. education by criticizing its tendencies toward assimilation and homogeneity. Such theories point out that a communitarian agenda excludes the…

This article describes the "school as sanctuary" concept through the voices of students enrolled in a small urban high school that curricularly privileges the linguistic, cultural, and sociopolitical realities of its communities. Moreover, this particular school was founded by students and teachers over 30 years ago as a direct response to…

In this article, I present three students' and one parent's reading of an excerpt from a textbook on the Israeli-Arab conflict. The excerpt is an account of a skirmish between Jews and Arabs in 1920, symbolizing for Jews the first bloody encounter between the two sides. While all students read the same excerpt, they use different mechanisms in…

The author sought to understand an African American English teacher's multicultural curriculum transformation and teaching in a suburban, mostly White, high school. Building on Banks's (1998) model of multicultural curriculum integration, the study focused on a context that might otherwise be ignored because there was not a large student-of-color…

This ethnographic study describes the roles adopted by four White teachers in the United States during and after they participated in a seminar on teaching antiracism with colleagues at the Woodson Elementary School, the only African American neighborhood school in a small Midwestern city. Each of these teachers self-identified as a good teacher…

Recent educational reforms in South Africa have been framed by an outcomes-based education (OBE) policy. One of the assumptions underlying this nationally directed educational reform process is that teachers will be both willing and able to adapt their teaching and assessment practices accordingly. Yet, there is considerable evidence to suggest…

This article argues that computers, at least in their common or prevalent uses, constitute an important undermining influence on people's ability to tell, enjoy listening to, view, and read good stories. We discuss the centrality of narrative in defining our humanity and in educating our children, and justify the emphasis on "good" stories,…

Building on the research of Crites in theology and Clandinin and Connelly in education, the authors map out three variations of cover stories lived and told by preservice and in-service teachers in order to clarify their scholarship and inform the research of others. We examine how these narratives are formed around canonical stories that teachers…

Based on qualitative research conducted from 1998 to 2001, this article describes classroom interactions in a high school and examines two uses of rules: one associated with confinement, and another associated with cognitive skills development. Though the two forms overlapped, the first was more prevalent in self-contained classes, and the second…

This review essay cum discussion paper outlines areas of concern with the underlying terms and conditions of the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in education. The books that instigated this foray ( Barrell, 2001; Cuban, 2001; Maeroff, 2003) are representative of the field and represent inquiry and opinion that reflect…

An essay review of "Assessing Children's Mathematical Knowledge: Social Class, Sex and Problem Solving" by Barry Cooper and Mirad Dunne, Philadelphia: Open University Press, 2000; "Talking Mathematics in School: Studies in Teaching and Learning," Ed. Magdalene Lampert and Merrie L. Blunk, New York: Teachers College Press, 1998; "Reconstructing…

In this article, two white science teachers at tribal schools in the Upper Midwest of the United States, who were identified by community members and school administrators as successful teachers, describe experiences of how they wrestle with the daily effects of generations of oppression. Most vividly, they talk about poverty. This article…

Across the United States, in an attempt to raise standards for student learning, states have developed curriculum standards that specify what students are to learn. Raising standards has become synonymous with standardizing curriculum. This study critically examines the reading/language arts and history-social science standards documents in…

The role of the school curriculum in multicultural societies is a central issue in the sociology of education. One of the main debates has to do with the relationship between education for multiculturalism and the use of curriculum for shaping the collective memory and strengthening the national ethos. This article deals with the state of…

In this article, I examine the work of John Franklin Bobbitt, Ralph Tyler, and Joseph Schwab with the intention of identifying lines of continuity and change in the curriculum field. Most curriculum scholars cast this group of three in an analytical framework that puts Tyler in kinship with Bobbitt, and that puts Schwab, by virtue of his…