Ellen Lagemann focuses on developments within the history of education to examine questions about the role of humanities research in the study of education--an issue which has plagued education scholarship since its inception. In this article, Lagemann demonstrates that scholars of education have sought to base their work on factual or…

In this article, Kieran Egan contests the scientific foundations of Piaget's developmental theories and the scientific basis of much educational research. In so doing, he pushes researchers and practitioners alike to rethink the centrality of Piaget's tenets to teaching and learning. Egan traces the history of the developmental literature that…

What have been some of the high points and disappointments of K-12 education over the past 75 years? How have shifting demographics in terms of race, ethnicity, social class and other differences shaped the educational experiences of various segments of the U.S. population? Sonia Nieto examines these questions, beginning with a discussion of the…

In this piece, Jean Anyon argues that the definition of education policy should be expanded to include the consideration of economic policies. She asserts that the impact of economic policies, such as minimum wage laws, have large and often ignored impacts on the experiences of urban students. Anyon argues that even small annual salary…

In this article, Nelly Stromquist examines the trajectory of the Comparative and International Education (CIE) field over the past several decades. In this effort, she reviews the major journals in CIE over the many years of their existence and draws from her own professional experience, including five years as the associate editor for the…

In this article, Mark R. Warren argues that if urban school reform in the United States is to be successful, it must be linked to the revitalization of the communities around our schools. Warren identifies a growing field of collaboration between public schools and community-based organizations, developing a typology that identifies three…

International economic forces increasingly affect policy at multiple levels and in multiple domains. The interplay of three levels--international, national, and local--are underresearched in the social and educational policy fields, which includes educational policy studies. In this article, Frances Vavrus employs ethnography to investigate how…

In this article, Laura Grandau traces a self-study research project focused on teaching algebra to fourth-grade students. Facing a new curriculum and a new grade level, Grandau considers what good instruction and "good habits of practice" may be. Through journaling, videos, observations, analysis of students' verbal and written responses, and…

In this conversation, Kevin K. Kumashiro shares his reflections on challenges to publishing anti-oppressive research in educational journals. He then invites eight current and former editors of leading educational research journals--William F. Pinar, Elizabeth Graue, Carl A. Grant, Maenette K. P. Benham, Ronald H. Heck, James Joseph Scheurich,…

In this article, Anane Olatunji examines the effects of work experience on early high school attrition among Mexican-origin adolescents. He proposes a theoretical model that takes assimilation into account as a potential predictor of the consequences of work for this group. In order to estimate the effects of eighth-grade work experience on…

In this article, Jonathan Jansen describes his experiences as a Black dean in the formerly all-White University of Pretoria in South Africa. The article shows how race, gender, history, and institutional culture constitute emotional terrain in which decanal leadership plays itself out in the volatile postapartheid era. In the context of South…

In this article, Maria Estela Zarate and Ronald Gallimore identify factors that predicted college enrollment for Latino and Latina students. Using data from a 15-year study of randomly recruited Latino and Latina youth (primarily second-generation Mexican Americans), they found that different factors were associated with their college enrollment.…

In this article, Vivian Chavez and Elisabeth Soep explore the collaboration among youth and adult participants at Youth Radio, a broadcast-training program in the San Francisco Bay Area. At Youth Radio, participants transcend the conventional relationship between adult "teachers" and youth "learners" to coproduce media products. Chavez and Soep…

In this article, Ralf St. Clair makes the argument that induction--the process of applying research findings from one setting to another--is logically unsupported, irrespective of method or methodology, due to the existence of superunknowns. Superunknowns are defined as factors that cannot be anticipated, not because of instrumentation defects,…

On November 3, 2005, the "Harvard Educational Review" interviewed Margaret Spellings, the eighth U.S. Secretary of Education. Spellings, who was confirmed as secretary of education on January 20, 2005, served as assistant to the president for domestic policy during George W. Bush's first term, and was responsible for the development of various…