This is the first book to look at school reform from the persepectives of those most affected by it - the students.

The authors of this work address special education's most pressing concern: the inappropriate placement into special education programs of millions of students who fall behind or do not conform well enough to the academic or behavioral standards of today's public schools. Too often, these students are misdiagnosed as "mildly handicapped" and are presumed to have some physical or sensory disability. In fact, this formal labeling practice may carry consequences that are not only self-defeating and potentially ruinous for the stigmatized individual pupil, but also ultimatley threatenting to society as a whole. The book includes contemporary discussions about needed institutional change, the shortcomings of practice currently in vogue and related to the education of the so-called mildly handicapped, and an appeal for new attitudes toward children that recognizes them as individual learners. The authors offer a unique combination of practical solutions to help set the course for more humane, efficacious educational practice with students who have difficulty learning. They discuss preplacement interventions such as teaching learning strategies, effective short-term counseling, and new ways to assess reading for instructional, rather than "special" placement, purposes.

Education Reform and Social Change is about addressing and changing the structures, policies, and practices of schools that differentially advantage white, middle class, native English speakers over students of color for whom English may be a second or additional language. It is also about helping people to think critically about what it is schools do and to consider more democratic, participatory, and equitable approaches. The chapters in the text provide first-hand documentation of the voices, struggles, and visions of students, parent activists, advocates, attorneys, and educators involved in educational and social change processes. It chronicles real-life efforts of people challenging the status quo and working to build a more participatory, equitable, and transformative future. The goal of this book is twofold: first, to consider the structures, policies, and practices that shape and limit educational change, and learning and teaching; and second, to document grassroots collaborative and creative efforts to change them. It offers a critical framework both for conceptualizing and for actualizing educational change. Organized into four sections, this book provides a theoretical and practical framework for thinking about educational reform and social change -- one that moves from the broader structural concerns that are embedded in policy, to case studies that document activism and collaborative efforts to change school, city, and state policies, to classroom-based directions and initiatives, and to the construction of personal and collective visions for a more democratic, equitable, and just education. Each section includes an overview of the chapters, necessary background information to help the reader contextualize what follows, and guiding questions to encourage reflective thought and engagement with the text and to invite personal linkages. Two resource sections are included at the end of the volume: "Radical Educational Reform, Critical Pedagogy, and Multicultural Education: Selected Readings and Resources" and "National Organization Networks and Resources with a Critical Perspective."

Parents and community activists around the country complain that the education system is failing our children. They point to students' failure to master basic skills, even as standardized testing is widely employed in efforts to improve the educational system. Contradictions of Reform is a provocative look into the reality, for students as well as teachers, of standardized testing. A detailed account of how student improvement and teacher effectiveness are evaluated, Contradictions of Reform argues compellingly that the preparation of students for standardized tests engenders teaching methods that vastly compromise the quality of education.

This text critically addresses, through college student voices, the American school reform movement in its rhetoric, policy, and practice. It demonstrates how university courses can be designed to treat students as engaged citizens and contextualizes students' voices in the private university and the public sphere.

A 2022 SPE Outstanding Book Award Winner Critical Transformative Educational Leadership and Policy Studies - A Reader is a comprehensive collection of critical contributions from most of the leading voices in the fields of educational leadership and educational policy studies, pushing back against the current neoliberal authoritarian environment. The volume offers alternative ways to perceive and to formulate education leadership and policy from a critical transformative perspective. Individual chapters discuss such topics as social justice in education; poverty, race and public education; counter-hegemonic education movements; the privatization of schools; and school reform and advocacy leadership, among others, all from a critical perspective. It is a crucial and timely volume for educators, school administrators, educational leaders, social activists, and union leaders concerned with the current state of our universities and our education system. Perfect for courses such as: Political Economy of Urban Education | Leadership and Policy Studies | Educational Policy and Reform | Politics of Education | Cultural Studies | Curriculum Theory and Development | Socio Historical Foundations | Indigenous Knowledges and Methodologies | Cultural Studies and Education

Two noted educators invite new and veteran teachers on an intellectual guided tour through the troubles of bad practice and the delights of good. This volume is a collection of classic essays—as urgently needed now as when they first appeared—on social class, race, gender, and schooling crafted over the course of two decades. The authors invite all of us to take a serious look at the paradox of public education—the ways in which urban schools reproduce social inequalities while, at the same time, serve as sites for learning at its most transformative and compelling. A must–read for all those educators who believe that “we can no longer afford to cede this space to policymakers who know little of the life of a classroom, the curiosity of a child, and the moral imperatives of teaching for critical citizenship.” “Michelle Fine and Lois Weis are among the very best writers on education in the entire nation. This book shows why they are so worthy of our highest respect. It demonstrates the limits and possibilities of critical education in powerful ways.” —Michael W. Apple, John Bascom Professor of Education, University of Wisconsin–Madison “For those of us who share the experience of having waited hungrily for more from Michelle Fine and Lois Weis, having these historic works collected in one volume is deeply satisfying. This book is mandatory material for us all.” —Deborah L. Tolman, Center for Research on Women, Wellesley College