Abstract: This article describes how the National Commission on Teaching has sought to implement its recommendations by working with partner states, districts, and stakeholder organizations that are committed to improving the quality of teaching. By creating a comprehensive agenda, democratizing the process of reform, and developing collaborative partnerships, the commission has stimulated substantial ongoing reform in policy and practice. As in the professionalization of medicine, law, and other fields, the creation of a professional accountability system for preparation and practice is a critical next step. If all teachers are to have access to knowledge and all students are to have access to well-prepared teachers, universities and schools will need to develop new partnerships and joint commitments to a democratic profession of teaching based on shared accountability for teacher education.

Abstract: In 1988, the Education Reform Act enabled all parents in England and Wales to express a preference for any school for their child. This created a market-like situation within which school survival ...

Abstract: This article describes three different types of professional development provided by teachers organizations in the United States and Canada. Drawing from 10 years of conceptual and empirical research on teacher union reform activities, on teachers' perceptions of unions, and on teachers' union involvement, it identifies strategies for improving the fit between professional development and teachers occupational needs. The article emphasizes sociological and organizational factors germane to teachers organizations themselves: their role in teacher socialization, the demographics of teacher organization participation, and internal structural features. It suggests that teachers organizations should look within at a variety of organizational issues and consider a variety of organizational strategies simultaneously.

Abstract: The goal of this study is to bring the discussion of ethnic heterogeneity and the racial/ethnic classification of students for research purposes into the education policy arena. The relationship between race and ethnicity and academic achievement is focused on in particular. The heterogeneity of academic performance in reading and math is demonstrated between subgroups of Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Island students, using the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS ’88). In the case of both the Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Island aggregate groups there are substantial, though not always statistically significant, academic performance differences among ethnic subgroups, with a range of math performance among Hispanic subgroups of 10.7 points (mean score = 34.4) between Cuban and Puerto Rican students and a range of math performance among Asian/Pacific Island students of 15.3 points (mean score = 41.0) between West Asian and Pacific Island students.

Abstract: There has been an undeniable erosion of the value and status of academic degrees in teacher education. The erosion has not been stemmed by traditional accreditation mechanisms that are based on mere consensus standard setting. It is argued that a new system of teacher education accreditation, based on evidence of student learning, valid assessment of student learning, and continuous program improvement based on evidence, is more likely to stem the erosion than the current approach.

Abstract: This qualitative policy study applies an interactionist framework for policy analysis, especially the concept of intentions, to an examination of the construction of multicultural education policy in a midwestern U.S. school district. Intentions-purposes and goals meant to shape the behavior of actors in the future and at other sites-motivate actors to act in the policy arena, to use policy as a vehicle for realizing their purposes. Initiated in response to a racial conflict in a high school, the policy process entailed the school board's creation of a committee including many African American community members to generate recommendations for improving race relations. During the process, the school board's intentions, and those of many community members, were transformed due to the administration's reinforcement of district conventions and power structures. Race relations became multicultural issues. Community members who misconstrued the process as granting them real policy-making authority were most dis...

Abstract: Within the search for a new relevance for higher education, the press to recast the long-standing commitment to knowledge development has provided schools of education with an opportunity to redefine teacher preparation. Knowledge development increasingly involves not only generating but also applying, integrating, and transforming knowledge; is pursued by more and more individuals and organizations outside universities; and has become a framework for both an expanded research agenda and program renewal. This article examines how the reconceptualization of knowledge development has influenced the structures and strategies used by schools of education to help beginning teachers build a knowledgeable start to their careers.

Abstract: The issue of what appropriate role philanthropic foundations should play in the formation of policies related to the education of professionals is explored. Specifically, the 1910 Flexner report on...

Abstract: A quiet reform has gone almost unnoticed in the many policy debates about improving America's schools. Labeled "The School-to-Work Revolution" by Lynn Olson and others, this little-noticed movement offers, at last, a solution to the constraining historical dualism between academic and vocational training. There is a new enthusiasm for and focus on the preparation-for employment side of American secondary education. However, although reinvigorated, the school-to-work revolution remains heavily threatened by our nation's reputation for low-quality vocational education and by some long-unresolved tensions with regard to social mobility and political control. This article discusses the need for additional theorizing about and policy-minded attention to the revolution and observes that valuable opportunities for improvement in job preparation are at hand in an increased national interest in economic development.

Abstract: Although educational policy makers are trying to involve more volunteers in schools, surprisingly little is known about the nature, scope, and efficacy of volunteer activities. For example, the literature offers policy makers only anecdotal answers to the following important questions: Who is volunteering in our schools? What do volunteers do? How do volunteers benefit schools? Are there costs associated with using volunteers? Are volunteers distributed equitably among schools? This article reports on a study that provides answers to these questions. Using multiple methods to analyze data from volunteers and administrators in New York elementary schools, this study shows, for example, that volunteers benefit schools in a number of important ways, including improving school-community relations. However, the study also reveals that high poverty schools have fewer volunteers than other schools. The policy implications of these and other findings are discussed.

Abstract: Due to the ability of the public schools to transmit societal norms and mores to students, the educational policy arena is frequently and inevitably immersed in morality politics. Morality politics...

Abstract: Choice-based reforms are the most controversial proposals to improve American education, yet little is known about how teachers view choice. The authors present the first systematic analysis of the factors that determine teacher attitudes toward school choice. Using a 1995 national mail survey of 900 public high school teachers (325 responded, a 42% response rate), we found that more experienced teachers and those who identify themselves as Democrats, majored in education as undergraduates, or who have never worked in a competitive educational environment are more likely to oppose public school choice. More experienced teachers and those who identify themselves as Democrats are also more likely to oppose private school choice, as are union members and teachers who teach in school cultures they deem negative. These findings are significant because teachers, both as classroom implementers of public policy and as political actors, help determine the impact of changes in education policy.

Abstract: This article argues that the relationship between religion and secular education in the United States can and must be renegotiated if public education is to survive challenges to its existence from conservative religious communities. Taking as its premise that such a renegotiation is constitutionally permissible, it examines several challenges any such effort must face and suggests six necessary, though not necessarily sufficient, criteria which ought to guide conversations aimed at rethinking this relationship in a multicultural democracy.

Abstract: This article recounts accomplishments of state and local P-16 partnerships toward improving teacher quality, raising educational aspirations, and improving student achievement. Work on teacher quality is emphasized, and a plan is in place for having a qualified teacher in every public school classroom by 2006. Although primary, work on teacher quality is insufficient. It must be coupled with efforts to raise and align academic standards for students, pre-school through postsecondary education.

Abstract: This article provides a history of the Indiana Professional Standards Board in governing teacher preparation and licensure and the redesign of the state's teacher preparation and licensure system. The authors conclude that although there are tremendous challenges ahead, the board has earned the respect of education constituencies within the state and has been an effective force in bringing these constituencies to the table to discuss the issues facing teacher quality in Indiana.

Abstract: Analysis of education gender equity policy presents a challenge: Do our conceptual lenses work for gender since they were developed from studying main-stream policy? Using data collected from interviews and documents in Australia (where the state actively promoted gender equity), this article (a) presents and critiques an array of potentially useful conceptual lenses, (b) outlines the policy formulation, and (c) uses a taxonomy of policy mechanisms to identify those deemed useful for effecting equity. Gender policy relied most on the mechanisms for curriculum materials and program definition. The article concludes by showing how policy mechanisms are useful for identifying priorities and focus but miss the rich cultural and feminist critical insights.

Abstract: The Cincinnati Initiative for Teacher Education (CITE) and the development of the Cincinnati Professional Practice Schools formulated a partnership among the University of Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Public School District, and the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers. The success of this venture has been achieved through the recognition of the different institutional cultures. The political factors of faculty roles, accountability, and funding are discussed in the article while giving a brief historical background of the conception, planning, and execution of this successful collaboration.

Abstract: This article argues that the characterization of the Religious Right as irrational does damage to progressive educational policy because it obscures the Religious Right's effectiveness in influencing educational policy and is counterproductive for resistance practices. The authors discuss briefly the common views of the Religious Right and critique those views on the basis of their own claims. They suggest an alternative conceptualization of the Religious Right, one that rejects the rational/irrational dichotomy of the prevailing views. They argue that the imperatives of the Religious Right are guaranteed by the prevailing ideology of the Christian, liberal state. The authors contend that counteracting the Religious Right requires a recognition of this prevailing ideology and the discursive practices that maintain it.

Abstract: The perception held by many teacher educators is that the commitment by colleges and universities to education programs is weak and funding for education lags far behind that of other disciplines. This perception was validated by a national study in which expenditure data for education programs were compared to those of other academic disciplines. The results of the study are presented in this article, followed by a discussion of the role a strong national accrediting body could play in support of stronger funding for teacher education programs.

Abstract: The three central questions addressed in this article are the following: Whose responsibility is it to train teachers? What role should arts and sciences play in this process? And, do colleges of liberal arts and sciences need schools of education? Arguments are made for the value of collaboration across schools of education and colleges of arts and sciences and the roles that each of these groups can effectively play in education at all levels, from kindergarten through graduate school.

Abstract: As a backdrop for the discussion of education and religious beliefs, the author conveys a sense of the terrain of this debate from a legal point of view. Both the U.S. and the various state constitutions are implicated and the law on many central questions is unsettled. At the end, the author expresses her view that the law should resolve on the side of strong separation of church and state, which is desirable for political, institutional, and educational reasons.

Abstract: RELIGION REPRESENTS one of the most constant and contentious issues in American culture and society. As a subject, it also raises some of the most important questions for those interested in educational policy analysis. The theme of this special issue is religion and education. The immediacy of this topic came home to us as we began to prepare the issue during the summer of 1999. At that time, the debate concerning evolution and whether it should be included in the curriculum of the public schools reemerged as a national issue when the Kansas State Board of Education voted 6 to 4 to remove the teaching of evolution from the state’s curriculum standards. The conflict concerning evolution goes back more than 75 years to 1925, when John T. Scopes, a biology teacher and coach, was convicted of teaching evolution in a Dayton, Tennessee, high school. Scopes had violated the 1925 Butler Act, which made it unlawful to “teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible.” The details of the story are well-known. Newspaper coverage made the trial a national event—perhaps the first nationally driven media debate about religion and education. Subsequently, through the play and movie Inherit the Wind, the Scopes Monkey Trial became a part of our literary and cultural consciousness. Scopes lost the trial in Dayton. After an appeal, the Tennessee Supreme Court dismissed his conviction. Despite this fact, the Butler Act remained on the books until 1967. Its influence, and the values that supported it, could be found in other regions of the country. One of the authors of this introduction,

Abstract: This year we have inaugurated a new feature in Educational Policy. Michael W Apple, John Bascom Professor of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a member of our advisory board since the journal's beginnings 14 years ago, will regularly write an essay on significant new books or documents that deserve critical attention. "Reviewing Policy" will go beyond the book review format to provide a stimulating look at current scholarship and policy. One of the aims of "Reviewing Policy" will be to engage in critical reflection on the broader ethical, political, and educational implications of specific policies and practices.

Abstract: The article employs a historical case study to document the evolution of a curriculum controversy between religious conservatives and secular progressives within a southern community fractured along racial and social class lines. In addressing how educational policy on sexuality curriculum was developed within this community of religious and ideological differences, the author argues that it is actually the hidden curriculum of race that is most salient for educational policy makers because both sides in this policy debate share a set of core Euro-American values.

Abstract: With this issue, we are pleased to inaugurate a new feature in Educational Policy. Michael W Apple, John Bascom Professor of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a member of our advisory editorial board since the journal's beginning 13 years ago, will regularly write an essay on significant new books or documents that deserve critical attention. "Reviewing Policy"will go beyond the book review format to provide a stimulating look at current scholarship and policy. All too often, the justifiable demands on policy makers and researchers to engage in action immediately keep people from taking the time to reflect on the ethical, political, and educational implications of specific policies and practices. One of the aims of "Reviewing Policy " will be to engage in exactly that kind of critical reflection. There is no one who can provide a better critical perspective than Michael Apple. He is one of the pioneers of the critical pedagogy movement and has worked for more than three decades to provi...

Abstract: This article analyzes the stratification critique of school choice. The stratification critique consists of several key claims, some supporting evidence, and a loose set of assumptions and inferences usually left implicit. Limitations of the critique include rarely treating stratification as a complex multidimensional phenomenon; insufficient recognition that stratification is widespread in school districts, whether or not they have school choice; and the idea that from a policy standpoint, the decision is not between school choice and an ideal nonstratified state. One must weigh the stratification consequences of different policies, and these consequences must be viewed in relation to other policy goals and values. This article argues for clearer terminology, better indexes, and more explicit comparative frames of references in theory and research on school choice and stratification.

Abstract: Attention to teacher preparation has long been part of the federal portfolio of programs. This article reviews federal teacher education policy in the second half of the 20th century and concludes that resulting legislation generally has been driven by a need to identify a culprit when schools do not meet public expectations. This framework is used to consider reauthorization of the Higher Education Act in 1998 and the impact on that reauthorization of the National Commission on Teaching & America 's Future. The effect of policies based on competition as a strategy to improve teacher education is considered.

Abstract: The role of religion in public education continues to spark spirited public debate. This article argues that if religion is viewed functionally, then the state school system is permeated with religion. This raises important questions with regard to free exercise of religion, parental rights, and the role of the state in education. Short of getting the government out of the business of operating schools that inevitably transmit particular belief systems, universal parental choice in education and released-time religion classes are the best ways to deal with first-order questions that provoke different religious answers.