Background/Context: Over the last three decades, considerable attention has been given to the social and educational conditions of Black males. Such observations have led to the accusation that Black males are "in crisis." Although such pronouncements call national attention to the needs of Black males, these discourses have helped to normalize…

Background/Context: Many children of immigrants are not enrolled in high schools that sufficiently meet their needs, and subsequently, many are not making a successful transition to, and/or successfully completing, higher education. As immigration grows in the United States, educators and policy makers must understand how the educational processes…

This article argues for a decolonizing multicultural education pedagogy, which engages the interstices in-between, hybrid spaces that emerge at the intersections of different cultures, histories, and locations. It also examines how those who work for social transformation are implicated in the very systems and structures they are attempting to…

Practitioner research is a topic of growing interest and scholarly writing in the field of education in general and adult education in particular. This article describes a particular form of practitioner research that rests on a participatory worldview and draws heavily from theory and practice in adult learning and action research.…

Federal educational policy, funding, and legislation are currently forwarding a research agenda described by the current administration as scientifically based. We characterize this agenda, described in multiple official documents as the gold standard, as neopositivist. We consider the ways in which this research paradigm and the methods that…

The "harmony model" of school administration is discussed and critiqued. (MM)

Teachers are in the awkward position of exercising authority, yet have dubious control over the conditions within which they do so. The ideal teacher role is authority exercised in good faith and a commitment to the burdens and uncertainties of educational authority. (CB)

All educational authority is not contained within the schoolyard fence. Education and re-education are processes in which the authority underlying not just knowledge of things, but value orientations and even self-identity, should be created by communities that are much more enclusive than the profession of education. (CB)

A strong conservative current underlies much of what is currently said about authority in schooling. Educational authority should be rooted in the ideal of democratic social transformation, a function it cannot have when conceived of more narrowly in terms of institutional heirarchy and stability. (CB)

Leadership strategies that encourage voluntary compliance are compared with those that are more assertive and demanding. Specific problems and possibilities challenging those who would lead movements of institutional reform are outlined. (CB)

Ways in which the fragile nature of the authority to teach can be damaged or disturbed are explored. Teachers need to reflect on specific classroom practices and consider how patterns of expectation may condition their effective authority. (CB)

The problematic relationship of knowledge and social-political power, as it affects the standings and justification of educational authority, is probed. Ways in which knowledge claims may legitimately support some forms of authority in practice are discussed. (CB)

The "hard" use of authority to produce change confronts obstacles that transcend administrative strategies. This article presents a conceptual analysis of authority and its constraints and shows how current conceptions of democracy, evaluation, and authority are interdependent. (CB)

Ways in which institutions may either foster or frustrate the kinds of beliefs and attitudes conducive to self-respect and self-esteem are explored. Patterns of authority in the schools of a democratic society must be examined with this fact in mind and shaped in ways that most fully develop the self-respect and self-esteem of all students. (CB)

This article encourages teachers to think about how they teach. Teachers must pay attention to their actions, interventions, and their own life history. The vision and value of teaching are explored. (DF)