The authors offer the image of our nation as a nautical convoy. Some boats are large, well built, and able to ride out the heaviest of turbulent seas. Others are smaller, but still quite sturdy, and able to survive. Many however, are fragile, meagerly equipped, and easily capsized in rough waters. This convoy is in the midst of a perfect storm…

Concerned that various reforms promising greater professional autonomy and status as well as student success are actually disempowering teachers, impoverishing intellectual life in schools, and serving as a portal for the marketization of teaching and education, editors invited teachers to respond to the ways in which the proliferation of…

Teens encounter a barrage of messages about sexuality in popular culture--messages that shape their identities and schooling experiences in profound ways. Meanwhile, teen sexuality, pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) increasingly arouse public panic. To date, however, schools do little to help teens make sense of their…

As a conclusion to a symposium on issues related to diversity and American education reform in the context of Goal 3 of the National Education Goals, this paper summarizes important issues of language and culture that must be faced in the process of implementing Goal 3. One of the prerequisites for dealing effectively with these issues is an…

An effort to contribute to the "story" of English teaching in the United States at the dawn of the new millennium, this book presents 17 essays that tell diverse and complex stories of the value and difficulty of teaching English. The voices in this volume represent an eclectic rather than a comprehensive group of teachers and scholars,…

This paper surveys the study of English in British schools from the 16th century to the present. The paper proceeds chronologically, using key terms operative in education at various times to structure discussion. In the 16th century a key term was "rhetoric," which concerns oral expression. "The Art and Craft of Rhetoric," is…

Reflecting the influence of James Britton in the field of language and learning, this book--a collection of essays by researchers and practitioners in the area of language and learning--focuses on recent issues of language development in learning. The book contains the following 27 essays: (1) "Social Interaction as Scaffold: The Power and…

In view of the importance of literacy learning, this paper defines emergent literacy and explores how researchers and teachers define it in the 1990s. The paper also attempts to answer the following questions: (1) What is the best way to teach literacy to young children? (2) Is there a correct way to teach it? (3) What does the research say…

The essays in this volume cover a range of sociopolitical aspects of Indian language planning (i.e., the politics of dialect, the role of the linguist, and the historical foundations of contemporary language problems), problems faced by the actual experiences of Indian language renewal efforts, and the relationship of Indian language renewal and…

This compilation's 11 chapters provide selected and revised papers from an interdisciplinary seminar to examine lifelong education with regard to an aging and changing population and changes in value emphases. Chapter 1 introduces the topic by addressing aging populations, lifelong education, economic decisions and planning, social implications,…

Seven critical needs require attention if the educational community is to capitalize on current opportunities for educational reform. (1) Literacy must be redefined and recognized as involving more than minimal skills. (2) All children must have access to the tools of learning and the carriers of culture. Library and instructional resources and…

Statewide competency testing as a high school graduation requirement represents a threat to those who encourage broad notions of reading and writing, even when a number of testing innovations in reading and writing mean a step forward in education. In Alberta, Canada, the English exam comes in a non-academic and an academic version, and…

The manuscripts in this publication present a variety of insights into the function of education in contemporary America, the responsibilities of educators, and the future of educational institutions as they adapt to changing social conditions. Viewpoints are expressed on the following subjects: (1) the role of education in clarifying the…

This collection of articles is concerned with contemporary attitudes and approaches to the teaching of literacy, children's literature, and other non-book texts and media. The collection offers practical as well as theoretical perspectives and addresses issues of good practice as well as of policy. It provides interdisciplinary perspectives drawn…

Three aspects of the question of ethnography in education are considered: (1) an explanation of how some ethnographic methodology might be applied in ethnographic research in education; (2) some weaknesses and strengths of ethnography; and (3) a proposal for a case study in which essentials of ethnographic research might be carried out in a…