Education Commons^™

How Teaching Virtues Became A Movement. A Book Review Of The Rise Of Character Education In Britain: Heroes, Dragons, And The Myths Of Character, Judith L. Pace

Democracy and Education

How did character education become so popular? What does its curriculum look like? And what is its educational impact? Lee Jerome and Ben Kisby answer these and other questions in a bold and brilliant book. Focusing on the character education movement in Britain, they dissect its theoretical foundation, explain its ascendancy, analyze its curricula, and examine its results. The authors construct a compelling argument that character education clashes with education for democracy.

Character education claims to be a panacea for improving individual children’s life chances as well as an array of societal problems. But with its deeply flawed ideology, curricula, …

High Costs To Peddling Solutions In Search Of Problems. A Book Review Of Selling School: The Marketing Of Public Education, T. Jameson Brewer

Democracy and Education

The unwavering commitment by reformers to privatize schools through educational marketplaces has fostered a rise in educational advertising necessitated by the competitive nature of commodification. Not only has this new form of "edvertising" fostered the creation of new jobs within the corporate cabal but it relies heavily on what are likely misleading claims of academic success and, additionally, raises serious questions about funds being diverted away from pedagogical practices in favor of glossy advertisements and videos. Selling School: The Marketing of Public Education by DiMartino and Jessen explores the ways in which edvertising within the educational landscape serves as a …

Learning From The Quiet Revolution. A Book Review Of After The Education Wars: How Smart Schools Upend The Business Of Reform, William (Chris) C. Gilbert

Democracy and Education

A review of the book After the Education Wars: How Smart Schools Upend the Business of Reform, by Andrea Gabor (The New Press, 2018).

Navigating Middle Of The Road Reforms Through Collaborative Community, Andrea J. Bingham, Patricia Burch

Democracy and Education

The current wave of educational reform is complex and situated in market-based initiatives coupled with a renewed emphasis on local autonomy, deliberation, and community—middle-of-the-road reforms. In practice, schools are challenged to develop organizational forms that can support collaboration and community engagement, alongside the bureaucratic and accountability-driven reforms that demand more oversight, transparency, and demonstrable results. Our intent in this paper is to begin to map the emerging contradictions and opportunities that the complex reform climate presents for practitioners through a case study of a personalized learning charter school. In so doing, we illustrate how a community of teachers within a …

Youth Change Agents: Comparing The Sociopolitical Identities Of Youth Organizers And Youth Commissioners, Jerusha O. Conner, Katherine Cosner

Democracy and Education

Although youth have long been at the forefront of social change, the last two decades have seen an upsurge in the number of organizations, agencies, and governmental bodies dedicated to supporting the idea of youth voice in public policy. Drawing on in-depth individual interviews with 32 youth in one major urban center, this study compares how participation in differently positioned political activities influences participants’ sociopolitical identities and their views of the most effective mechanisms for social change. Specifically, this research compares youth involved in a government-sanctioned youth commission, developed to advise policymakers, with youth involved in a community-based youth organizing …