The Baltimore Algebra Project is a student-run, student-staffed nonprofit that employs public high schoolers and recent graduates as math study group leaders and as organized advocates for quality education as a constitutional right. In this essay Jay Gillen draws on his experiences as a facilitator of the Algebra Project to argue that only a…

In the following pages, Robert Moses tells the history of the early civil rights movement in Mississippi, focusing on the individuals, alliances, and strategies that brought about fundamental change in the United States and ultimately made possible the election of Barack Obama to the presidency. Moses describes how the efforts of Justice…

The author began writing this essay the day after waves of euphoria swept over what appeared to be a profoundly altered public space. Americans had seen the most diverse gathering of people coming freely together to affirm a common purpose no one could quite yet define. No one had instructed them to come out in the cold of that inauguration…

Using a historical approach, Sobe examines the myths and ideals that have underlain U.S. educational initiatives in postconflict nations abroad. Building on its tradition of modern schooling designed to advance civic and social order, America has sought to extend its political and cultural values overseas through educational reforms in…

In this essay, Mitra Shavarini captures the lasting impact of violent political conflict on educational access in postrevolutionary Iran. While the Iranian Revolution took place nearly thirty years ago, its impact continues to reverberate throughout Iranian society, particularly as it relates to the lives of women. Captured here is a powerful…

In this article, John Holst presents findings of his historical research on Paulo Freire's educational work in Chile from 1964 to 1969. Freire's "Education as the Practice of Freedom", which was written in 1965 from notes he brought from Brazil, was informed by a liberal developmentalist outlook. In contrast, his "Pedagogy of 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…

In laying the basis for a view of teachers as a force for transformative change in the schools, the author reviews the historical development of teachers' professional and union movements. He argues that teachers' collective interests as workers are more compatible with transformative than with merely reformist change. (Author/CH)

Provides historical information often missing from mainstream text and presents conceptions of political systems and vehicles for social change that are different than those usually thought about. Remarks are offered on one point of departure for movement toward an education for the liberation of both men and women. (JOW)

This essay is not about what needs to be done for children, but about tactics, ways to go about trying to change public policy as it affects children. (Author)

Article presents some objective data about free schools along with a discussion of the various educational and social change concepts which underlie them. (Editor)

Author outlines a process of Afro-American education which would establish a cultural identity for American Blacks, and draw attention to the need for the Black Community to reconsider community values and attitudes in building viable educational institutions. (Editor)

In seven articles debating the Paideia Proposal, the authors provide an organization of a program for "basic schooling" that, Mortimer Adler argues, will prepare students for citizenship in a democratic society, encourage lifelong learning and personal development, and provide the skills necessary to earn a living. (SSH)