Clear, concise, and authoritative - compact and affordable, too - with scholarship that is often cited as a primary source, "American Education" brings up-to-date information and challenging perspectives to teacher educators' classrooms. This edition provides thorough coverage of the No Child Left Behind Act, a review of drug testing and vouchers, a new discussion of academic testing, and coverage of the Commission on Excellence in Special Education.

Table of Contents:
PART 1: SCHOOL AND SOCIETY Chapter 1: The Purposes of Public Schooling The Public Benefits of Schools Are Schools Always a Public Good? History and the Goals of Schooling The Political Goals of Schooling The Social Goals of Schooling Economic Goals Human Capital and the Role of Business in American Education Issues about Human Capitalism Chapter 2: Education and Equality of Opportunity The Common School Model The Sorting Machine The High-Stakes Testing Model Education and Income Gender, Educational Attainment, and Income Closing the Gap Between Men's and Women's Incomes Race, Educational Attainment, and Income Are Students Treated Equally? The Issue of Social Class Education, Social Class, and School Districts Education, Social Class, and Real Estate Brokers Shopping for a Public School Savage Inequalities Central City Schools Social Class and "At-Risk Students" Poverty Among School-Aged Children The End of the American Dream: School Dropouts Tracking and Ability Grouping Should Tracking and Ability Grouping Be Abolished? Social Reproduction Resistance Parental Involvement Chapter 3: Equality of Educational Opportunity: Race, Gender, and Special Needs The Law, Race, and Equality of Educational Opportunity The Meaning of Race What Race Am I?: Racial and Cultural Self-Identification Race and Social Class The Economics of Racism Defining Racism Race, Social Class, and Equal Educational Opportunities Teaching About Racism The Future of Desegregation Second-Generation Segregation The Recent Struggle for Equal Education for Women Sexism and Education Students with Disabilities Public Law 94-142: Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) Writing an IEP Which Children Have Disabilities? Integrating Children with Disabilities into the Regular Classroom An Inclusion Success Story The Inclusion Debate President George W. Bush's Commission on Excellence in Special Education Chapter 4: Student Diversity Is It Hispanic or Latino? The Changing Population of U.S. Schools Educational Experiences of Immigrants to the United States Immigrant Languages Are U.S. Teachers Prepared for Language Diversity? Mexican American Students and U.S. Schools Asian American Students and U.S. Schools Native American Students and U.S. Schools Chapter 5: Multicultural Education Dominated Cultures: John Ogbu Empowerment through Multicultural Education: James Banks, Sonia Nieto, and Critical Pedagogy Educating for Economic Power: Lisa Delpit Ethnocentric Education Bilingual Education and English Language Acquisition: No Child Left Behind English Language Acquisition Act of 2001 Bicultural Education: Is This The Answer? Globalization: Language and Cultural Rights PART 2: POWER AND CONTROL IN AMERICAN EDUCATION Chapter 6: Local Control, Choice, Charter Schools, and Commercialism The Education Chair School Boards Who Knows Their School Board Members? Educational Bureaucracy Site-Based Management Home Schooling School Choice National Public School Choice Plan: No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 Public-Private Choice Plan: The State of Ohio's Pilot Project Scholarship Program Charter Schools Examples of Three Charter Schools "Do Charter Schools Measure Up?": 2002 Report of the American Federation of Teachers For-Profit Schools and Charters Edison Schools Inc.: A Tale of an Education Company in Search of Profit The Edison Design Commercialism in Schools Chapter 7: Power and Control at the State and National Levels: High-Stakes Testing, School Violence, The Reading and Math Wars, and Private Foundations Local, State, and Federal School Revenues Categorical Aid: The Source of Federal Power Increasing State Involvement in Schools No Child Left Behind: High-Stakes Testing and Academic Standards The Backlash to High-Stakes Testing Cheating on High-Stakes Tests The Federal Government Decides the Reading War: No Child Left Behind A Case Study: Student Violence and Federal Action Private Foundations: The Invisible Power in Education Should The Role of Politicians In Education Be Limited by Eliminating Compulsory-Education Laws? Chapter 8: The Profession of Teaching Teacher Education in a Global Economy Disparities in Teacher Salaries and Equality of Educational Opportunity Current Issues in Teacher Education Control Through Testing: National Licensing and Certification National Certification: The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Teacher Education American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence: Alternative Routes to Teaching The Rewards of Teaching Working Conditions Teachers' Unions and Teacher Politics Differences Between the Two Unions A Brief History of the National Education Association (NEA) A Brief History of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) The NEA and the AFT Today A Case Study: Tom Mooney, AFT Vice President and President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers Should Teachers Strike? Chapter 9: Textbooks, Curriculum, Internet E-Learning, and Instruction Censorship Issues Web Scrub: A New Form of Censorship? Textbooks Curriculum Standards and the Political Nature of Knowledge Curriculum John Dewey and Progressive Education Humanistic Social Efficiency for the 21st Century The Internet and E-Learning The Child Online Protection Act of 1999 Instruction Critical Pedagogy Chapter 10: The Courts and the Schools Drug Testing Students' Free Speech Rights Gays, Boy Scouts, and No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Access to Books Suspensions Do School Authorities Have the Right to Paddle Children? Compulsion and Religion Vouchers and Religious Schools Child-Benefit Theory Can States Regulate Private Schools? Religion and State School Requirements School Prayer, Bible Reading, and Meditation Student Prayers School Prayer and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 Secular Humanism and the Religion of Public Schools Evolution and Creationism Parents' Rights Teachers' Rights The Liability of Teachers Teachers' Private Lives The Language of the Schools School Finances At end of each chapter: Conclusion * Suggested Readings and Works Cited in Chapter