Since the early 1990s, the federal role in education—exemplified by the controversial No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)—has expanded dramatically. Yet states and localities have retained a central role in education policy, leading to a growing struggle for control over the direction of the nation’s schools. In An Education in Politics, Jesse H. Rhodes explains the uneven development of federal involvement in education. While supporters of expanded federal involvement enjoyed some success in bringing new ideas to the federal policy agenda, Rhodes argues, they also encountered stiff resistance from proponents of local control. Built atop existing decentralized policies, new federal reforms raised difficult questions about which level of government bore ultimate responsibility for improving schools. Rhodes’s argument focuses on the role played by civil rights activists, business leaders, and education experts in promoting the reforms that would be enacted with federal policies such as NCLB. It also underscores the constraints on federal involvement imposed by existing education policies, hostile interest groups, and, above all, the nation’s federal system. Indeed, the federal system, which left specific policy formation and implementation to the states and localities, repeatedly frustrated efforts to effect changes: national reforms lost their force as policies passed through iterations at the state, county, and municipal levels. Ironically, state and local resistance only encouraged civil rights activists, business leaders, and their political allies to advocate even more stringent reforms that imposed heavier burdens on state and local governments. Through it all, the nation’s education system made only incremental steps toward the goal of providing a quality education for every child.
The book offers both undergraduates and starting graduate students in education an understanding of numerous dimensions of the contested field of education, addressing questions of political economy and class, cultural politics, race, ...
Companion Website: The interactive Companion Website accompanying this text includes relevant data, public domain documents, YouTube links, and links to websites representing political organizations and interest groups involved in education ...
This revised edition of the Handbook of Education Politics and Policy presents the latest research and theory on the most important topics within the field of the politics of education.
This book provides new evidence on teachers unions and their political activities across nations, and offers a foundation for a comparative politics of education.
This book is thus a valuable read for anyone interested in the education system and wanting to shape the learning environment.
Companion Website: The interactive Companion Website accompanying this text includes relevant data, public domain documents, YouTube links, and links to websites representing political organizations and interest groups involved in education ...
This Clinton administration law set national goals for elementary and secondary schools. Later the same year, the Clinton administration's reauthorization of the ESEA, titled the Improving America's Schools Act (IASA), ...
This book provides a critical perspective and analysis of today’s education policy landscape and leadership practice; explores the challenges and opportunities associated with teaching in and leading schools; and examines the structural, ...
Lichty, L. F., & Palamaro-Munsell, E. (2017). Pursuing an ethical, socially just classroom: Searching for community psychology pedagogy. American Journal of Community Psychology, 60(3–4), 316–326. Liu, F. (2006).
With a large set of colleagues at RAND, we have undertaken a series of projects for the State of Texas in the United States to help improve the alignment of higher education degree programs and workforce needs (Goldman et al., 2015; ...