In this dynamic look at the current state of character education, Alan Lockwood assesses its strengths and weaknesses and finds fault with leading advocates for failing to respond to sound critiques of their work. Lockwood argues that contemporary character education can be significantly improved by using key principles from established theories and research on developmental psychology. He offers numerous examples to support his recommendations while inviting character education theorists and practitioners to generate their own implications from his presentation. This book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in improving the quality of values-based education for children and adolescents.

Distinguished historian and policy analyst Maris Vinovskis examines federal K-12 education policies, beginning with the publication of A Nation at Risk and focusing on the National Education Goals, America 2000, Goals 2000, and No Child Left Behind. In addition to discussing key policy debates, he also addresses the practical aspects of implementing and evaluating school and classroom reforms, drawing on his unique experiences working in the Department of Education during both the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations.

Education is intimately connected to many of the most important and contentious questions confronting American society, from race to jobs to taxes, and the competitive pressures of the global economy have only enhanced its significance. Elementary and secondary schooling has long been the province of state and local governments; but when George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, it signaled an unprecedented expansion of the federal role in public education. This book provides the first balanced, in-depth analysis of how No Child Left Behind (NCLB) became law. Patrick McGuinn, a political scientist with hands-on experience in secondary education, explains how this happened despite the country's long history of decentralized school governance and the longstanding opposition of both liberals and conservatives to an active, reform-oriented federal role in schools. His book provides the essential political context for understanding NCLB, the controversies surrounding its implementation, and forthcoming debates over its reauthorization. how the struggle to define the federal role in school reform took center stage in debates over the appropriate role of the government in promoting opportunity and social welfare. He places the evolution of the federal role in schools within the context of broader institutional, ideological, and political changes that have swept the nation since the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, chronicles the concerns raised by the 1983 report A Nation at Risk, and shows how education became a major campaign issue for both parties in the 1990s. McGuinn argues that the emergence of swing issues such as education can facilitate major policy change even as they influence the direction of wider political debates and partisan conflict. McGuinn traces the Republican shift from seeking to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education to embracing federal leadership in school reform, then details the negotiations over NCLB, the forces that shaped its final provisions, and the ways in which the law constitutes a new federal education policy regime - against which states have now begun to rebel. and that only by understanding the unique dynamics of national education politics will reformers be able to craft a more effective national role in school reform.

From one of the foremost authorities on education in the United States, former U.S. assistant secretary of education, an incisive, comprehensive look at today’s American school system that argues against those who claim it is broken and beyond repair; an impassioned but reasoned call to stop the privatization movement that is draining students and funding from our public schools. In a chapter-by-chapter breakdown she puts forth a plan for what can be done to preserve and improve our public schools. She makes clear what is right about U.S. education, how policy makers are failing to address the root causes of educational failure, and how we can fix it.

Discusses how school choice, misapplied standards of accountability, the No Child Left Behind mandate, and the use of a corporate model have all led to a decline in public education and presents arguments for a return to strong neighborhood schools and quality teaching.

"While few would quarrel with the goal of the No Child Left Behind legislation, the nation is badly divided over whether the law is having a positive effect on our schools. At the same time, it is also true that most Americans, including many professional educators, have only a limited understanding of the content and scope of the legislation. As we are currently engaged in a national debate about the future role of the federal government in the field of education, it is essential that people become better informed about the history, content, and results of No Child Left Behind." "This book is a valuable tool informing the current discussion on the reauthorization of the law. As a result, the reader will be better able to make up his or her own mind as to the direction we should take as a nation in pursuing the noble objective of ensuring that no child is left behind."--BOOK JACKET.