Contemporary Cyprus society is no longer homogeneous. Increasingly, Cypriots have contact with people of different cultures. The same happens in schools in Cyprus. In this article, through an ethnographic study, we investigate what happens today in Cyprus regarding the education of international and repatriated students. Analyzing the case study…

Inter- and intra-district public school choice, vouchers, tuition tax credits and other forms of school choice have been advocated for decades, in large part on grounds that the market forces engendered will improve public education. There are many studies of school choice policies and programs and a large theoretical literature on school choice,…

Looping is the practice in which a teacher instructs the same group of students for at least two school years, following them from one grade level to the next. Once a "loop" of two or more years is completed, the teacher may start a new loop teaching a new group of students. This evaluation study of the practice of looping in a large urban school…

The idea of a carefully managed curriculum, tightly controlled, has been with us for some time and for all the changes has remained focussed on the "core curriculum" of English, Maths and Science. Questions remain whether this policy has been successful in terms of pupil performance. At the least, the central tenets of a core curriculum should…

This article represents a preliminary exploration of the impact of mayoral control of two large urban school systems and the legislative changes in school governance and policies--spearheaded by business leaders and politicians--which affect students, teachers, and traditional school leaders in terms of accountability, decision making, and school…

Most schools and teachers cannot provide the kind of teaching the new standards demand because they lack know-how and organizational support. The policy challenge ahead is to develop schools' capacity to teach challenging content to diverse learners by ensuring teachers' access to knowledge they need to be effective and by developing new…

Argues that the ultimate effect of many recent educational "reforms" will be to exacerbate existing inequalities. Examines how such inequalities are publicly justified by the use of moral and biological logic systems. Explores the use of these arguments, such as those crystallized in Herrnstein and Murray's "Bell Curve," to support conservative…

Issues related to race, class, and gender diversity have been silenced in most school reform efforts. To meet future national and global needs, reforms must incorporate diversity issues, promote democratic ideas, and help students acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills to construct civic, moral, and just communities. Policy recommendations…

There are numerous examples of small, self-governing schools of choice that successfully serve high-risk students in both public and private sectors. Good schools are filled with particulars that explain their surprising successes. Strong democratic schooling needs new forms of horizontal accountability focused on a school's collective work. A New…

Since mid-1994, the Clinton Administration has relied on various nonlegislative means to support its education reform strategies. This article presents a set of case studies on parental involvement, religion in schools, school uniforms, truancy, immigrant children's rights, technology, and reading that illustrate tools and initiatives that the…

The contemporary challenge for curriculum and educational policy is to create pedagogy and implement social action that reflects new visions of humankind and influences the emergent popular and intellectual culture. The African American community is responsible for educating its children. This community's greatest threat is miseducation that…

The involvement of teachers in the school reform debate has spurred an unprecedented focus on the need for teacher leadership. During the past decade, teachers have asserted their own version of leadership (differing from administrative or managerial versions) and embraced essential aspects of genuine professions. Emerging models in Rochester, New…

Most previous literature on teacher knowledge- and skill-based pay has adopted a managerial perspective. This article adopts an alternative, collective bargaining viewing lens, addressing teachers' likely reactions to such plans, collective bargaining issues that may emerge between a teachers' union and a district employer concerning such plans,…

Although individual components of reform initiatives may appear promising, little thought is given to possible inconsistencies resulting from implementing multiple reform components simultaneously. This article describes some unintended consequences arising from inconsistencies between and within components of Kentucky's systemic education reform.…

This study, which evaluates the Benjamin Banneker Scholars Program, was undertaken in response to litigation challenging the University of Maryland's right to operate a scholarship reserved exclusively for high-achieving African Americans. Using varied data sources, the study found that the Banneker scholarship program continues to be necessary as…