Floyd M. Hammack

The Channeling of Student Competition in Higher Education: Comparing Canada and the U.S.

We compare new forms of student competition to enter Canadian versus American higher education. In the U.S., this competition triggers student strategies to enter prestigious institutions, while in Canada it is absorbed across fields of study. We trace these differences to the greater hierarchy in the U.S. system and discuss the possible future course of competition.

The "Value" of a College Education

What are schools and colleges for? What are the criteria we should use to evaluate their achievement of these purposes? Questions such as these have stimulated countless debates, reforms, and counterreforms in American education and provide the underlying issues addressed by the two books reviewed here. Both books appear at a time when such questions are of great importance and are explicit attempts to assess the performance of higher education in the United States. One definition of what higher education is for-enhancing the job opportunities of graduates-is examined by Freemans The Overeducated American, while Bowens Investment in Learning explores a variety of definitions. The implication of Freemans work is that the ability of higher education to provide good job opportunities for graduates is diminishing, and that serious and far-reaching consequences will follow for both individuals and society. Bowen, on the other hand, argues forcibly for the efficacy of economic payoffs, as well as noneconomic benefits, and encourages a renewed effort to expand higher education in this country. Both books have gone public, in the sense that they have been reviewed and discussed far more widely than is usual for such studies of higher education. Both are written by economists and use language and categories from economics; both attempt empirically based and policy-oriented examinations of higher education. In one sense, the Bowen book, appearing a year later, is an answer in the same universe of discourse to the problems identified by Freeman. Although his title implies more than this, Freemans work is essentially an analysis of the changing labor market for the college educated during the last 10-15 years. The book presents a discussion

Teaching at the Secondary Level

This essay briefly traces the history of secondary education, the development of its curriculum and of its teachers, and describes the consequences of these changes for teachers and teaching. This background material allows us to then focus on research concerning contemporary issues and policies in secondary teaching, including teacher quality, the sources of challenges to successful secondary school teaching, and some of the efforts to increase the effectiveness of schools and of teachers.

Schooling for Social Mobility: High School Reform for College Access and Success

ABSTRACT This article addresses what schools that seek to promote social mobility as opposed to status maintenance among their students really ask of them. Focusing on several prominent charter school organizations, the article details the social and behavioral expectations of the schools and understands them through an application of Goffman’s work on status change. The article concludes that social mobility through education requires much more than higher levels of academic achievement.

Private School Graduation and College Attendance: Patterns of Transition

The college designations of over 5,800 recent graduates of 60 private secondary schools and the relationships between characteristics of these schools and the average selectivity of the colleges attended for each school were investigated. Aggregating all graduates, the data show considerable success in gaining admission to selective, prestigious private colleges and universities. HE 014 085u200343 pagesu2003MF

Large School Systems' Dropout Reports: An Analysis of Definitions, Procedures, and Findings.

.91u2003PC

Ethical Issues in Teacher Research.

3.65