Assuming that educational planning is a communicative process involving the transmission of symbols to effect change, this article offers a transformative approach consolidating three basic transformations (symbols, frames of reference, and behavior). The articulation of vision, the socialization of expectations, and empowerment are conceptualized…

Discusses social justice in education, specifically gender issues. Explores how rightist governments in advanced industrialized societies have tried to implement an agenda of parental choice and standards, in contrast to earlier liberal administrations' efforts to reduce differences between families and involve mothers in children's education.…

Kanpol's book "Towards a Theory and Practice of Teacher Cultural Politics: Continuing the Postmodern Debate" (Ablex, 1992) examines postmodernist thought in education. Redefining critical social theory and the notion of resistance in postmodernist terms, the author shows these ideas' relevance to common democratic struggles and resistance to the…

John E. Chubb and Terry M. Moe's booklet "A Lesson in School Reform from Great Britain (Brookings, 1992) and Denis Lawton's book "Education and Politics in the 1990s: Conflict or Consensus?" (Falmer, 1992) attempt to evaluate effects of recent educational changes in England and Wales. Lawton's thoughtful, scholarly analysis of the…

To restructure teaching by changing teacher roles, five working condition must be enhanced, including support for teaching, collegiality, influence, recognition and advancement, and time. Three policies claiming to facilitate these conditions (differentiated staff, site-based management, and schools with learning communities) are true…

Whereas democracy institutionalizes distrust, professionalism relies on trust. Responding to Berbules and Densmore, this article identifies strong normative reasons, grounded in the interests of children, for promoting teacher professionalism. Exorcising the evils of classic professionalism will eliminate neither equity nor quality problems.…

How professionalism functions as an ideology was a central theme of the authors' original essay. Because of hegemonic associations surrounding professionalism in this society, teacher professionalism would have consequences undermining the ends of democracy, equity, and cultural diversity that Gary Sykes proposes. Also, most current teachers would…

The Cleveland (Ohio) Collaborative for Mathematics Education has rejuvenated the teachers, who have benefited from increased participation in decision making and productive forms of collegiality. Despite these gains, math curriculum and instruction remains heavily influenced by systematic programing, traditional teaching and learning conceptions,…

Examines teacher education reform in Israel, focusing on educational reform documents analyzed by applying methods from poetics and intellectual history. The analysis shows how global reform rhetoric has been used to negotiate a new construct somewhere between the "ideal model" of teacher professionalism imported from pace-setting…

Whereas private institutions are chiefly accountable to the narrow, limited constituencies supporting them, public institutions are typically accountable to more general constituencies that are diverse, broad, and conflicted. This essay reviews two recent books by British authors that discuss the two "ideal" accountability models and…

Praises Harold Silver's book "Education, Change, and the Policy Process" for its complex, thoughtful essays justifying the use of history to make informed educational policy. Questions Silver's strong focus on top policymakers and his failure to acknowledge policymakers' usual reliance on intuition and ordinary knowledge, not scholarly studies.…

Despite recent state leadership in educational reform, the national reports have primarily framed issues and priorities. The articles chosen for this special issue demonstrate the interplay of state and local politics of reform with national concerns. This article highlights Florida's contributions to first and second wave reform efforts. (MLH)

To increase understanding of the educational reform movement, the Center for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) embarked on a five-year study of the implementation and effects of state education reforms in six states (Arizona, California, Florida, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania) with diverse reform approaches. This article presents the center's…

Explores Florida teachers' failure to accept state-legislated learning models imposed on them. Although 86.7 percent of teachers surveyed identified "reaching" students as the major intrinsic reward in teaching, 74 percent claimed that legislated learning questioned their competency and limited the scope of their work and/or political…

Compares the Florida Educational Reform Act of 1983, a teacher merit pay program, with similar programs in other states and countries. Studies the reform's inception, implementation, and decline, using the concepts of coalition-building, fiscal support, and various work arenas (legislative and executive, administrative, professional organizations,…