Public Schools

<p>From curriculum standards and testing to school choice and civic learning issues in American education are some of the most debated in the United States. The Institutions of American Democracy a collection of essays by the nation's leading education scholars and professionals is designed to inform the debate and stimulate change.<br />In association with the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands and the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania The Institutions of American Democracy is the first in a series of books commissioned to enhance public understanding of the nature and function of democratic institutions. A national advisory board--including among others Nancy Kassebaum Baker David Boren John Brademas Ellen Condliffe Lagemann David Gergen and Lee Hamilton--will guide the vision of the project which includes future volumes on the press and the three branches of government.<br />Each essay in The Institutions of American Democracy addresses essential questions for policymakers educators and anyone committed to public education. What role should public education play in a democracy? How has that role changed through American history? Have the schools lost sight of their responsibility to teach civics and citizenship? How are current debates about education shaping the future of this democratic institution?<br />Among the contributors are William Galston Director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at the University of Maryland;Clarence Stone Professor in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland - College Park and editor of Changing Urban Education and Regime Politics: Governing Atlanta 1946-1988 (University Press of Kansas 1998).; Susan Moore Johnson Pforzheimer Professor of Education in Learning and Teaching Harvard University; Michael Johanek Executive Director of K-12 Professional Development College Board; Kathy Simon co-executive director of the Coalition for Essential Schools and author of Moral Questions in the Classroom (Yale University Press 2001); and Jennifer Hochschild Professor of Government and Professor of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University and author of Facing Up to the American Dream: Race Class and the Soul of the Nation (Princeton University Press 1995).</p>