Janesick, Valerie J. (1998). "Stretching" Exercises for Qualitative Researchers. Reviewed by Stacey L. Edmonson

Janesick, Valerie J. (1998). "Stretching" Exercises for Qualitative Researchers. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Pp. xv + 135. $45 (Cloth)     $19.95 (Paper)           ISBN 0-7619-0255-4 Reviewed by Stacey L. Edmonson Texas A & M University-Commerce July 22, 1999           Is qualitative research like a dance? According to Valerie Janesick's book, "Stretching" Exercises for Qualitative Researchers, qualitative research is indeed analogous to dancing in many ways. Just as dancers go through numerous preparatory exercises before they actually perform, Janesick believes that qualitative researchers should likewise engage in a set of systematic exercises in order to prepare themselves for the task at hand. The metaphor of qualitative research as a dance continues throughout this useful handbook for persons who are new to the practice of qualitative research.           In many ways this publication could best serve as a textbook for a qualitative research class. The exercises lined out for practice are in-depth yet feasible for persons in almost any social setting. From basic observation techniques to interviewing guidelines to self- analysis, Janesick gives explicit instructions for each exercise. Each exercise, of which there are 19 throughout the book, starts with a description of its purpose. This purpose is then followed by a more specific problem statement as well as a time frame for completing the exercise. Time frames can range from as little as five minutes up to several weeks; these guidelines can be modified for some exercises as needed. A full and thorough description of the actual activity then follows, which includes directions on how to document the activity as it is taking place. At the conclusion of each exercise, Janesick includes questions for discussion, a rationale for the exercise, and an evaluation that can be done introspectively or with other participants. The evaluation portion is designed so that the researcher is evaluating the exercise itself, as well as his/her performance or learning experience while completing the exercise. Janesick recommends that readers complete every exercise and keep an ongoing portfolio of their evaluations throughout the process. This portfolio will serve as both a current learning tool and later as a reference guide of sorts to the novice qualitative researcher. Janesick's book is self-explanatory enough for young and/or inexperienced researchers to understand and utilize, yet it is also practical enough for more experienced researchers to also benefit from its suggestions. If each task is to be completed in its entirety according to the timelines suggested in the text, the book could well be used to guide a class of students through a full semester of qualitative research techniques.           The first two-thirds of the book are devoted to explanations, definitions, and exercises to be performed. Precise definitions are provided for qualitative techniques such as participant observation and nonparticipant observation. Thorough explanations for the many types of interviews (phone, focus group, personal, etc.) are given as well. The book changes quite a bit in format in its last fifty pages. This final portion of the book, a set of 16 appendices, gives full samples of the techniques described in the text. For example, samples of field notes, journal entries, and self-evaluations are all provided. A detailed syllabus for teaching a course on qualitative research is also given, complete with a calendar, reading list, assignments, and class handouts. In addition, a sample dissertation proposal for qualitative research is provided for readers to learn from and utilize in their studies.           Janesick writes this book in an informal, easygoing manner, almost as if she is having a face-to-face conversation with the reader. She explains that, just as every step of a dance is carefully choreographed and described in detail, so does effective qualitative research involve full and complete description. In fact, Janesick likens the choreography of a dance to the theoretical basis necessary for qualitative research. Without choreography, there in essence is no dance; without theory, there in essence is no qualitative research. Janesick emphasizes the division of qualitative research into four component parts: observation, interview, role of the researcher, and analysis. Her chapters and exercises clearly follow these divisions. For example, she proposes exercises for observation that require describing animals, persons, and environmental settings. Interviewing exercises include conversations with both friends and strangers, plus extensive work with focus groups. Likewise, exercises emphasizing the role of the researcher involve photography, collage building, and journal writing. The final division of qualitative study, analysis, provides instruction on honing his/her intuitive and interpretative skills. Through these exercises, Janesick justifies the importance of qualitative research as opposed to quantitative studies; qualitative techniques allow for the gray areas of research, the areas that are not strict, scientific, or final. In other words, what this book has to say is of importance to the reader because it demonstrates how qualitative research allows one to learn from not only the answer, but from the question as well (Bruss & Macedo, 1985). The basis for writing the book in this particular style, Janesick says, is because qualitative researchers are "disciplined inquirers" (Dewey, 1967). As such, qualitative researchers must learn the more elementary and basic techniques (such as observation and interviewing) before they can effectively progress to the more advanced aspects of research. Again this idea of a disciplined inquiry lends itself to Janesick's dance metaphor, for dancers must learn the basic dance steps first and continue to practice these moves until more difficult techniques can be attempted and/or mastered.           This text also gives due note to the ever important role of ethics in qualitative research, including ethical exercises just as it includes exercises for other aspects of qualitative studies. Discussion questions are included for the two ethical dilemmas, one involving a supervisor's request to delete information and another involving a subject who claimed to never have made the comments that were recorded on tape. In addition to these exercises, Janesick also provides "rules of thumb" for qualitative researchers who wish to be both ethical as well as effective: 1) try to refrain from studying your own group, 2) always have an outside reader, 3) design your study to understand, 4) time in the field equals time in analysis, 5) develop a model of what occurred in your study, 6) always allow participants access to your data, 7) look for points of conflict, tension, and contradiction, and 8) estimate your time and costs (pp. 67-69).           Janesick explains in her introduction that she bases her exercises on the groundwork previously laid by Eisner (1991): qualitative research depends upon individual persons ("real" people), upon specifics rather than broad generalizations, and upon personal interpretations rather than hard numbers. She writes this book for a multitude of purposes, including "to disrupt" traditional writing, which she finds cold and often boring or difficult to read. She also writes with the intent "to educate and engage" readers and "to inspire" the reader; she hopes that qualitative research will be better understood by her readers and that in turn they will seek to use this type of research in their current or future work. Finally, Janesick wants "to demystify" and "to democratize" research, by which she hopes to open qualitative techniques up to more researchers, including those persons who are intimidated or overwhelmed by quantitative research techniques. Although the simplistic style of this book makes it both easy to read and easy to understand, it also serves to make Janesick's material more of a handbook for qualitative research rather than a very informative text. The exercises are useful, helping readers learn techniques for engaging in qualitative studies, but they offer little or no background for understanding the qualitative research in its entirety. Janesick offers the book as a textbook for qualitative research classes, but using this book in such a way without several supplemental texts would leave students lacking important knowledge. Skills would be in place from using this book, but background knowledge and true substance concerning qualitative research would be notably absent.           With her easy style of writing and practical sets of examples, Janesick accomplishes the goals she sets for herself in "Stretching" Exercises for Qualitative Researchers. The book is indeed quite non-traditional from other texts offering studies of qualitative research; it is easy to read and requires little contextual background to be understood. Likewise, it does educate readers quite effectively in the basic skills of qualitative research. Janesick also wishes to "demystify" this research, and in many ways she does so through offering exercises that range from elementary strategies to complex studies. This book can be quite useful to persons first learning how to engage in qualitative research, plus it offers a realistic set of exercises and examples for these learners to use. In essence, although it is strictly a surface-level view of qualitative research, this book is do-able. Perhaps, then, qualitative research is a dance after all, a dance in which anyone willing to put forth time, effort, and practice can participate. References Bruss, N., & Macedo, D. (1985). Towards a pedagogy of the question: Conversations with Paulo Friere. Journal of Education, 167(2), 7-21. Dewey, J. (1967). The early works. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. Eisner, E. (1991). The enlightened eye. New York: Macmillan. About the Author Valerie J. Janesick is a Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Florida International University in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She has taught classes on qualitative research at this and other universities, and her work has been published in Curriculum Inquiry, Anthropology and Education Quarterly, and numerous other educational journals. She also wrote "The Dance of Qualitative Research Design," a chapter in the Handbook of Qualitative Research by Denzin and Lincoln. About the Reviewer Stacey L. Edmonson Texas A & M University-Commerce Areas of interest include special education, motivation, and burnout in teachers and administrators. Doctoral candidate in educational administration.

Haberman, Martin. (1995). Star Teachers of Children in Poverty. Reviewed by Eric L. Brown

Haberman, Martin. (1995). Star Teachers of Children in Poverty. Bloomington, IN: Kappa Delta Pi. Pp. xii + 100 $15.00       ISBN 0-912099-08-9 Reviewed by Eric L. Brown Ohio University and Chillicothe City Schools July 22, 1999           Teachers who work in urban schools are faced with many complex and challenging situations. Often these teachers feel overwhelmed by the challenges confronting them, and they leave the profession. There are, however, some teachers who succeed and are respected by students, peers, supervisors, and the public for being successful. A study of the traits of these effective teachers can be found in Martin Haberman's Star Teachers of Children in Poverty. In this well-written and thought-provoking book, Haberman discusses the characteristics and the practices that are shared by these successful teachers.           Martin Haberman, a professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, bases his discussion of "star teachers" on information gathered from research that he carried out over many years. Haberman claims to have conducted over 1,000 interviews with members of the teaching profession. By analyzing data from observations of and interviews with teachers, Haberman discerns differences between successful and weak teachers. Discussion of these differences forms the substance of the book.           The book is divided into four chapters. The first chapter contains an explanation of what the author takes to be poor teaching practices--practices typically avoided by successful or "star" teachers. Haberman (1995, p.3) argues, "teachers who quit or fail frequently cause many of their own problems; in other cases they exacerbate the situation needlessly." Such teachers often become involved in direct confrontations with students or their parents over issues such as discipline, homework, or parental support. Star teachers, by contrast, do not focus directly on these issues, tending instead to approach them obliquely. For example, star teachers don't punish, but instead use logical consequences to guide and direct students to learn appropriate behavior. Also, star teachers believe that many of these issues, such as discipline, will be addressed by making instruction interesting, meaningful, and engrossing to the students who are in their classes.           In the second chapter of the book the author introduces the practices of star teachers. Surprisingly, this chapter is very short and concise, a mere six pages. Here the author briefly gives an argument for why teachers ought to instill in their students the belief that learning is important for its own sake. Haberman found that star teachers do not motivate students by exploiting the linkage between learning and the likelihood of obtaining a good job. Instead, successful teachers attempt to reach their students by relying on the children's intrinsic motivation to learn. In addition to learning content information, Haberman contends, the students of star teachers learn to accept responsibility for maintaining a safe environment, conducive to learning.           The third chapter discusses the strategies of star teachers, and it is by far the largest section of the text (72 out of 100 pages). In this chapter Haberman reveals what he discovered through his research about the methodologies and beliefs of successful teachers.           One strategy of the star teacher is to be persistent. Haberman argues that a successful teacher continues to try new methods and approaches in an effort to reach each student and promote his or her learning. The teacher does not simply have a single approach for all learners. A particular approach to working within the school bureaucracy is identified by Haberman as a second strategy of star teachers. Star teachers do not try to undermine their school district's administration nor do they completely ignore the directives sent from officials in the bureaucracy; however, star teachers avoid using bureaucratic dysfunctions or administrative directives as reasons to keep from achieving the objectives they have set for their students. Finally, assuming responsibility for their students' learning, star teachers engage in a practice that Haberman calls "gentle teaching." Gentle teaching promotes kindness in classroom interactions. It strives to eliminate the discord that can accompany interactions in traditional classrooms where focus is often directed as much on compliance as it is on learning.           The fourth and final chapter of the book presents a brief argument for incorporating new criteria for selecting teachers. Haberman contends that individuals need to be selected for the teaching profession on the basis of criteria other than (or in addition to) good grades and test scores. It is Haberman's belief that the selection of teachers should involve an effort to find individuals who share the attributes commonly found among star teachers. In Haberman's view new teachers--like star teachers--ought to be non-judgmental, tolerant and not moralistic, open and not easily shocked, understanding, and communicative with colleagues. In addition, they should enjoy working with children and, in general, have a positive outlook.           This is an excellent book written for beginning teachers who are considering whether or not they have what it takes to teach children of poverty in urban school settings. The book is also a superb reference for more experienced educators because it embodies a powerful educational philosophy. Experienced educators may find either reassurance or guidance by reading this volume. The teaching practices that are explained in this book can easily be extended from the urban school settings that Haberman studied to other settings, such as rural or suburban schools. These other school settings may not face exactly the same challenges as urban schools, but many of the practices of star teachers will still apply.           Martin Haberman appears to have reached the conclusion that the purpose and content of education should be focused on developing the interests of children and youth. The specifics that Haberman presents in this book, such as his point that star teachers focus on intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivators, suggest that he believes that the role of a teacher should be as a nurturer of the individual differences and interests of his or her students. This reviewer contends that this underlying belief serves as a guidepost for directing Haberman to see particular instructional strategies as more effective than others. In addition, Haberman seems to disagree with the view that the central goals of schools should be the preparation of individuals as citizens or workers.           From the perspective of this reviewer, Haberman's underlying premise that the goal of education should be to nurture the development of each individual student's interests fails to promote balance between the claims of the individual and the claims of society. Haberman's educational philosophy is limited because it ignores the need for schools to teach children the importance of acknowledging and making sacrifices on behalf of a common good--an entity larger than the self. Of course, Haberman's attention to individuals is not altogether misguided: it is, after all, our individual differences that add richness and depth to society.           For all its strengths, the book does have some additional shortcomings. The value of the book to practicing educators would, for example, be strongly enhanced if the book were to include more information about how to implement the successful teaching practices of star teachers. Its value would also be increased if it were to provide some suggestions for ways to change the teaching practices of current teachers or to teach the practices of star teachers to individuals enrolled in teacher-preparation programs. In addition, the text seems to ignore the fact that many urban schools face difficult problems that even the most outstanding teachers are powerless to solve. Many urban schools are, after all, plagued by limited resources and dysfunctional organizational cultures. Haberman's claim that approximately 92% of the teachers in urban schools fail to achieve the successes of star teachers seems to argue for reforms much more widespread and thorough-going than the changes (e.g., in teacher selection) that he recommends.           One glaring weakness of this book is the author's failure to provide a detailed description of his research methodology. Although he claims to have conducted numerous interviews with and observations of urban teachers from across the United States since 1959, Haberman does not explain how these teachers were identified, how his data were collected and analyzed, nor how his conclusions were rooted in the data. Haberman does not even offer a clear operational definition of what he means by an "urban school."           The practices and beliefs of star teachers highlighted by Haberman are stimulating; but as prescriptions for practice, they too have shortcomings. For example, according to Haberman, star teachers tend to focus only on the learning environments of their classrooms; they do not pay much attention to the other parts of the school organization. From the perspective of this reviewer, such an approach is selfish and narrow-minded. When star teachers by-pass normal school channels in order to garner resources for their own classrooms, they simply deprive other classes of the use of those resources. When star teachers defend their instructional time against the intrusion of other professionals, such as school psychologists and administrators, they may deprive their students of needed services and supports. The description of some of the particulars of how star teachers act leads one to wonder if star teachers are as much focused on their own "stardom" as they are on the needs of their students.           Martin Haberman has written a sincere and useful book that summarizes the results of his personal quest for knowledge about successful teaching practices. Taken as a personal story, the book offers hope, encouragement, and a few practical suggestions. Taken as research, it clearly falls short. As a set of solutions to the problems of urban schools, Haberman's, and perhaps anyone's, book leaves much to be desired.

Welch, Olga M. and Hodges, Carolyn R. (1997). Standing Outside on the Inside: Black Adolescents and the Construction of Academic Identity. Reviewed by Richard Nyirongo

Welch, Olga M. and Hodges, Carolyn R. (1997). Standing Outside on the Inside: Black Adolescents and the Construction of Academic Identity. Albany, NY: State University of New York Pp. 144 $44.50 (Cloth)           ISBN 0-7914-3341-2 $14.95 (Paper)           ISBN 0-7914-3342-0 Reviewed by Richard Nyirongo Ohio University June 2, 1999           The status of minority groups in comparison with the dominant group of white Americans is being debated every day in the media, academic circles, and religious organizations as well as in homes, in the courts, and in the streets. African Americans are the minority group most discussed in America. At the center of the debate are efforts being made by various interest groups and by the American government to alter imbalances in the social, economic, and political power that exist between the minority groups—African Americans in particular—and their white American counterparts. So far, efforts to remedy conditions for minority groups and to reduce the disparity between them and the dominant whites seem not to be bearing any significant fruits. These circumstances have been documented by Welch and Hodges as well as by many other authors.           The concerns among minorities are wide ranging, from large scale issues related to political, economic, and legal matters to the smallest details of social life. Education has been identified as an important mechanism through which the existing disparities between majority and minority groups may be bridged. The success of education in remedying these disparities has thus far been limited, however. It is within this context that Welch and Hodges examine and take issue with the construction of academic identity among African American adolescents. Academic identity is one of the important factors that facilitates or impedes students' academic achievement in school and their eventual admission into college. The main argument advanced by Welch and Hodges is that, among other factors, academic identity constitutes a significant influence on the academic achievement of African American students and students from other minority groups. Concern with such other factors as students' lack of preschool preparedness, unequal opportunities in school, and cultural deprivation has kept educators from paying adequate attention to students' formation of academic identities. Educators have tended to stress the social factors affecting disadvantaged youths to the exclusion of the psychological factors also at play in the lives of Black adolescents.           Welch and Hodges concentrate on the psycho-social development of disadvantaged African American adolescents by first drawing from their own personal and academic experiences in US educational and socio-political institutions. The major focus of the inquiry, however, is on the experiences of selected adolescents who participated in a university-sponsored enrichment program in English and foreign language, which was linked to their high school English and foreign language classes.           The authors address the following research questions: How do African American adolescents construct the meaning of the concepts, "scholarship" and "scholar?" Does the way they construct these meanings overtly affect their performance in school (e.g., their GPAs, ACT/SAT scores, position in class)? Does it covertly affect the construction of their identities?           Deeply rooted convictions as well as shared experiences as African Americans and as educators motivated Welch and Hodges to carry out the study, which involved action research within the context of a project called EXCEL (Encouraging Excellence in Children Extends Learning). Central to the study were the experiences within and outside of school that shaped African American adolescents' views of themselves as scholars. The authors found that, as participants in the public school system, African Americans and other minority students felt like "outsiders on the inside."           In Chapter one, "Education and Equal Opportunity: The Failed Promise," Welch and Hodges provide background information relevant to their study. They describe the status of education in America in general and discuss how the US system of education fails to address the problems faced by minority children—African Americans in particular. The authors explain that efforts by the government to improve disadvantaged students' access to education and performance in school are not new. Some such initiatives have been in place for as long as 40 years. In all that time, however, little has been realized. The disparity in academic achievement between disadvantaged students and their advantaged counterparts has been growing and continues to grow. This situation persists and even worsens despite the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling and the 1964 Civil Rights Act, both of which tried to outlaw segregation in schools and to give all children equal access to education.           The fact that poor results persist despite all that has been done has led some educators to question the concept of equality itself. Educators, in fact, debate the very meaning of "equality." Does it refer to equal inputs of school resources? Or does it refer to equal educational outcomes? Equality is, in fact, difficult to assess in the context of a capitalist economy. Capitalism creates circumstances in which the playing field is not level, favoring those with more resources and power over those without. Social equality might be unattainable under such circumstances.           Welch and Hodges conclude the first chapter by discussing the failure of the US educational system to alter socio-economic and power imbalances between African Americans and whites. The authors attribute this failure to the ineffectiveness of the approaches thus far used by schools. Educational initiatives have emphasized social factors, such as poverty and cultural values, at the expense of psychological factors. According to the authors, few educational efforts have endeavored to mediate the way that African American students construct their identities. Chapter two is entitled, "Precollege Enrichment for African American Adolescents and the Construction of Achievement Identities: Is There a Relationship?" In this chapter Welch and Hodges explore possible ways to socialize African American students so that they will choose to devote themselves to academic success. Such socialization is necessary, Welch and Hodges contend, in order to assure students' academic and social survival in the hostile culture of the public schools and the discouraging everyday world of inner-city neighborhoods. In school African Americans face deprecation and insults from teachers and classmates. At home they observe the experience of relatives—dropouts and frustrated graduates alike—who are unable to get jobs despite adequate qualifications. Under such conditions, success is almost impossible to achieve. Welch and Hodges argue, however, that African Americans need to alter such conditions by developing the capacity for self-motivation and by forging positive academic identities. Precollege enrichment programs often overlook this important need, thereby leaving African American students vulnerable to the hostile environment of the schools. As a consequence, many African American students fail to achieve, and many drop out of school.           As a way to illuminate the relationship between precollege enrichment experiences and students' formation of positive academic identities, Welch and Hodges contrasted typical enrichment programs with project EXCEL. Studying the project through action research that was based on the principles of critical and symbolic interactionism, the authors sought to understand the meanings, expectations, and motivations through which students came to interpret the academic experience. Focusing on two cases in particular, the authors found that it was possible for some students to embrace a personal definition of scholarship and to use that definition to frame and then to achieve academic goals. Other EXCEL students, however, believed that intellectual potential was a more important determinant of their future academic success than was their actual academic achievement or their motivation to succeed. This belief interfered with such students' ability to imagine themselves in the role of "scholar."           In Chapter three, Welch and Hodges elaborate on one of the EXCEL findings, which they term, "The Lana Turner Syndrome." This syndrome is characterized by the expectation held by some disadvantaged students that their admission to college will depend upon their being "discovered." To these students, academic potential is hidden. In the case of the lucky few, hidden potential is miraculously discovered by college admissions officers. Students who subscribe to this interpretation also believe that, as long as there is a chance of being discovered, there is no need for them to demonstrate their ability. For such students, overt demonstrations of their academic achievement or of their motivation to succeed are virtually useless. Using the work of Foucault to interpret "The Lana Turner Syndrome," the authors show that this syndrome has contradictory effects. While it tends to limit students' access to post-secondary educational opportunities, it also offers them a way to care for themselves and to resist oppression within the hostile world of schools.           Chapter four, "Diffusing the Rumors of Inferiority: Creating a Climate of Excellence for Inner City, College- Bound Students," focuses on the way that classroom climate shapes the educational experiences of disadvantaged students. The authors believe that it is important to study classroom climate in order to shed light on the causes of African American students' underachievement. The analysis of climate in this chapter is based on the classroom experiences of the EXCEL students of 1990-1991.           According to the authors, the interaction among the members of a classroom has an important influence on the classroom climate, which, in turn, can be either detrimental or conducive to the academic achievement of disadvantaged students. Welch and Hodges note that various factors influence classroom climate. Important among these are: the teacher’s educational philosophy, the emotional tone of interpersonal relationships, the strategies used to manage students' behavior, and the techniques used to organize instruction. The authors caution, however, that the associations between teacher behavior and student achievement are complicated; causal relationships are difficult to document. Moreover, the authors note that, even when such relationships are clearly identified, such "process-product relationships do not translate directly into prescriptions for teaching practice" (p.97). Acknowledging these cautions, Welch and Hodges still maintain that such research offers important lessons for practice. They are particularly supportive of two findings: (1) the finding that the amount of time spent on an academic task influences the amount of learning that takes place and (2) the finding that students learn better when they can relate new knowledge to prior experiences and knowledge. After discussing other instructional practices that hold promise for disadvantaged students, the authors conclude the chapter by explaining how important it is for teachers to engage all students in experiences that work to dispel the myth that Black students' academic abilities are inferior to those of whites.           In Chapter five, "Equal Access to Excellence: Shifting the Center and Reconstructing Knowledge," Welch and Hodges situate their analysis of African American students' academic identity formation within the broader discussion of school reform, particularly as that discussion addresses the question of equal educational opportunity. Attending to the complexities and the contradictions of reform efforts, Welch and Hodges note, The previous discussions of identity construction and the dilemmas inherent in educational reform and restructuring are replete with countertensions which we have thus far suggested serve to silence important issues and criticisms as surely as they elicit calls for change. It is clear that policymakers thinking about long-range plans can not confine themselves to a unidirectional approach but must, instead, consider how individual actors, that is, teachers, parents, politicians, and the community at large, construct meanings of schooling and the role of education. (pp. 117-118)           Despite evident understanding of the circumstances that conspire to restrain African American students' formation of positive academic identities, Welch and Hodges are hopeful. The current interest in the context of minority education, according to the authors, is a step in the right direction. But the authors believe that true reform will depend upon a long-range, collaborative, and multi-dimensional effort. Overall, Standing Outside on the Inside offers a critical analysis of the way that schooling in the United States treats (and often mistreats) disadvantaged students, particularly African Americans. Providing both an historical and a contemporary vantage, the authors demonstrate how African American and other minority students are trapped within a system that marginalizes them, regardless of their abilities and potential.           Welch and Hodges have managed to give a rich account of the problem, and have, in the process, raised good questions regarding what should be examined in order to remedy the apparently worsening situation for African Americans and other minority students. But they have not offered definitive solutions. Some readers may find this omission to limit the usefulness of the book. The authors, however, have made it clear that, in their view, there is no prescription that will "cure" the problem. Still, by citing Freire at the end of the book, Welch and Hodges affirm the value of inquiry and critical pedagogy in "unveiling opportunities for hope" on behalf of disadvantaged adolescents (p. 127). About the Reviewer Richard Nyirongo Richard Nyirongo has interests in the context of educational administration, specifically the socio-economic, cultural, and political context of educational administration in Sub- Saharan Africa. He is also interested in minority education in the United States. Nyirongo was a secondary school teacher and Lecturer at the University of Malawi; a Malawian, he received his Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Malawi and a Master of Education degree from Ohio University, where he is currently a doctoral student in educational administration.

González, Josué and Darling-Hammond, Linda. (1997). New Concepts for New Challenges: Professional Development for Teachers of Immigrant Youth. Reviewed by Betty Merchant

González, Josué and Darling-Hammond, Linda. (1997). New Concepts for New Challenges: Professional Development for Teachers of Immigrant Youth. Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Lingusitics xxiv+168pp $20.95 (Paper)         ISBN 1-887744-04-5 Reviewed by Betty Merchant University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign May 27, 1999           As the new millennium approaches, the United States is experiencing a dramatic shift in the demographics of its population. For administrators and teachers, these statistics translate into real and immediate issues concerning the education of a broad range of students whose needs they feel ill-prepared to meet.           Although there have been a number of efforts to revamp the preparation of preservice teachers by incorporating new courses on multicultural education into their professional preparation, for the most part, these efforts have been inadequate in providing new teachers with the skills they need to successfully respond to the needs of a diverse student population. The staff development opportunities provided to practicing teachers have not been much more effective than traditional preservice programs in helping teachers re-conceptualize and transform their instructional practices in order to respond to the academic and social needs of the students assigned to their classrooms.           Compared to preservice and inservice teachers, principals and superintendents receive even less training in working with diverse student populations and are provided with little to no information about effective instructional leadership in diverse settings. The lack of preparedness of administrators is reflected in their inability to provide guidance and support to teachers whose students come from differing racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Students of different nationalities and/or linguistic traditions present a particular challenge to monolingual English-speaking teachers and administrators. Although recent immigration trends have contributed to an increase in the number of such students enrolling in American public schools, there are very few resources available to principals to assist them in working with teachers in creating a learning environment in which all students can experience success.           Josué González and Linda Darling-Hammond's recent book, New concepts for new challenges: Professional development for teachers of immigrant youth, (1997) makes an important contribution towards remediating this situation. Their book is part of a series on immigrant education published by the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, D.C. Although the title of the book focuses on teachers, the information presented in the text provides principals with important information about the social and academic needs of immigrant students as well the strengths that these students bring with them to the school setting. The authors of the book address administrators' needs for specific information by outlining the general structure and content of effective professional development programs and by providing detailed descriptions of programs that have demonstrated success in preparing teachers to work with immigrant students.           The authors begin their book with an historical perspective on cultural diversity in the United States, pointing out important differences between recent waves of immigrants and those who preceded them. One of the most significant of these differences is that current waves of immigrants are able to preserve contact with families and friends in their home cultures through improved transportation and technology. This contrasts sharply with the experiences of the grandparents of teachers and administrators who immigrated to the United States, and in the absence of such technology, abandoned their home cultures and languages comparatively quickly. The authors argue that we must move from a homogeneous system of schools to one which embraces the diversity represented in the student population. They also add an important caution; that public schools can be an arena in which the old rivalries and religious divisions between immigrant groups are played out. In order for schools to provide an arena in which these conflicts can be resolved, teachers must be skilled in human relations, creative problem-solving and conflict solution. Although not specifically mentioned by the authors, it is essential that administrators, as the instructional leaders of their schools, acquire and model these skills. Assistant principals, in particular, should possess these skills, since they are often charged with maintaining student discipline and therefore most likely to mediate disputes between students from rival immigrant groups.           Chapter 1 provides a very useful overview of differing perspectives on immigrant education and the ways in which U.S. government policies have shaped the national debate about how best to educate immigrant students. The authors focus on the changing sociocultural and linguistic profile of the nation's public school students, as contrasted with the relatively stable demographic profile of the teaching force, comprised primarily of White educators whose families have lived in this country for several generations. González and Darling-Hammond examine the sociocultural and linguistic characteristics of diversity and provide an emerging view of effective practices generated from the research on effective instruction of linguistically and culturally diverse students. The authors also provide a list of promising structural arrangements to facilitate communication and collaboration within schools and between schools and other social institutions within the community for the purposes of supporting the education of language minority students.           One of the most important contributions made by the authors in this section is the argument they put forth regarding the importance of providing teachers with opportunities for examining and reflecting on their beliefs and ideas about various immigrant groups. It is critical that administrators participate in such activities and, as part of this process, that they pay particular attention to reviewing the taken-for-granted policies and practices of the school for the purpose of identifying those that have a negative impact on the social and academic success of immigrant students. In the absence of administrative leadership in this area, teachers will continue to enforce policies and practices that are inappropriate in responding to the needs of a diverse student population.           Chapter 2 presents a conceptual overview of professional development during the preservice experience, the induction period, and throughout teachers' careers. The authors challenge the traditional assumptions associated with traditional preservice education and professional staff development models and argue for communities of practice in which teachers come together to reflect on and improve their practice by engaging in on-going inquiry, experimentation and sustained change. This chapter is an important source of information for administrators who desire to transform professional development in their schools. The authors review the research on effective staff development approaches and identify emerging principles for guiding a new vision of professional development which encourages multiple forms of instruction and student assessment. Of additional importance to administrators is the author's position that the definition and shaping of professional development opportunities needs to be broadly shared among those who have a direct stake in the future of students. They suggest that school-based professional development and site-based management should be tightly bound, integral components of school-based improvement and argue strongly against professional development as a remedial activity for teachers or as mechanism of administrative control over teachers.           In view of the aging teaching force and the legislation in several states which provides incentives to teachers for early retirement, increasing numbers of administrators are losing experienced teachers and hiring newly-credentialed teachers to take their place. González and Darling-Hammond cite a number of research studies which suggest that many new teachers feel inadequately prepared to deal with diverse learners. The authors also point out that even veteran teachers, when confronting students they are unable help, become discouraged and frustrated if not provided with the resources they need to succeed in teaching these students. In light of the research on the frustrations that both new and veteran teachers experience when working with immigrant students, it is essential that administrators learn to provide the kinds of professional development support described by the authors.           Chapter 3 presents structures, models, and practices in professional development which promote collaboration within schools. between schools and universities and between schools and neighborhood-based youth organizations and community agencies. Arguing that traditional models of staff development have been largely unsuccessful, the authors propose a new model of professional development which engages teachers, principals, counselors, support staff and community members in critically reviewing educational policies, practices and student outcomes, in order to generate more effective approaches to instructing and evaluating immigrant students. The chapter provides clear, succinct explanations of a number of ways of nurturing learning communities within schools, including: cooperative learning, problem-based inquiry, peer coaching and cognitive coaching. González and Darling-Hammond examine the research on the development of reflective practice, and in so doing, provide useful guidelines for administrators who are committed to working with teachers on creating a supportive climate for the development of professional learning communities. The last section of the chapter presents specific suggestions for moving from self- reflection to collaborative action, including team teaching and school-home collaboratives.           Chapter 4 is an outgrowth of the previous chapters, in that it synthesizes the research findings discussed earlier and provides detailed examples of professional development programs that embrace the structures, models and practices in professional development that lead to transformed practice and improved learning environments, particularly for immigrant students. Three of the examples describe preservice teacher education programs: The Second Languages and Cultures Education Program at the University of Minnesota, the Cross-cultural Language and Academic Development Program (CLAD) at San Diego State University;, and the Cross-cultural Language and Academic Development Program (CLAD) at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The remaining two examples focus on inservice teacher development: The International High School in New York City, and the Bilingual Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (BCIRC) Model, based on a model developed at Johns Hopkins University. The rich description of each program responds well to administrators’ need for detailed information about the specific components of such staff- development models, as well as the ways in which these components can be integrated into an effective program.           In the concluding section, the authors summarize the three themes around which their book is organized. The first theme focuses on the social and cyclical nature of learning which involves “visiting and revisiting questions of practice, collecting and interpreting data, revising hypotheses, and changing practice in light of new knowledge” (p.131). The second theme highlights the need for an anthropological orientation in understanding students and the teachers who work with them. According to the authors this approach requires teacher to become involved in examining “themselves, the community they serve, the learning community in the school, and the relationships of these entities with one another” (p.131). By sharing the information they gather as part of such inquiries with their colleagues, teachers become aware of the importance of soliciting multiple perspectives on a given topic. The third theme focuses on the promise of video and other technology to help school staff view and reflect on their work. In particular, the authors argue for the need for additional research on the use of videoethnographic and computer techniques as supports for the professional development of teachers of immigrant teachers. The authors maintain that staff development programs for preservice and inservice teachers of immigrant students must incorporate these three themes in order to achieve maximum effectiveness, pointing out that the five programs featured in the book are exemplars of these themes.           The authors conclude by offering their book as a catalyst for discussion among educators who are responsible for the instruction of immigrant students and offer their book as a basis for teacher reflection about the ways in which their beliefs about these children influence not only their interactions with these students but the academic and social outcomes of these students.           Although I have taught courses in educational leadership and school change for ten years, this is the first book I have found that provides concrete responses to the questions that confront principals as they try to respond to the professional development needs of teachers of immigrant students. Although Josué González and Linda Darling-Hammond perform an invaluable service in synthesizing the literature on this topic, their book is significantly enriched by their own professional experiences and considerable research on the subject. The authors are university academics whose work is thoroughly grounded in the complex reality of schools, and who are sensitive to the kinds of professional development opportunities teachers and principals need to have in order to become more effective in educating immigrant students. This is the most informative and readable book on the subject of professional development for teachers of immigrant youth that I have come across to date; it should be required reading for all principals committed to creating communities of professionals dedicated to improving learning conditions for immigrant youth and all students.

Britzman, Deborah P. (1998) Lost Subjects, Contested Objects: Toward a Psychoanalytic Inquiry of Learning. Reviewed by Victoria I. Muñoz

Britzman, Deborah P. (1998) Lost Subjects, Contested Objects: Toward a Psychoanalytic Inquiry of Learning. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press Pp. 199 $59.50 (Cloth) $19.95 (Paper)     ISBN 0-7914-3808-2 Reviewed by Victoria I. Muñoz Wells College May 23, 1999           In Lost Subjects, Contested Objects, Deborah Britzman invites the reader to join her in a process of liberatory imagination, what Maxine Greene (1988) describes as "the capacity to surpass the given and look at things as if they could be otherwise" (p. 3). For Greene, this process sustains human freedom. But it is not just enough to look, for seeing is to witness, and the limits of witnessing are clear from glancing at history. Greene continues, "To become different, of course, is not simply to will oneself to change. There is the question of being able to accomplish what one chooses to do. It is not only a matter of the capacity to choose; it is a matter of the power to act to attain one’s purposes" (p. 4).           Britzman urges action through an ethics of interference: A refusal to dominate and be dominated and the refusal to turn "the narcissism of minor differences" (p. 97) into life-long hatreds and despisals. "Education," according to Britzman, "must interfere. There is nothing else it can do for it demands of students and teachers that each come to something, make something more of themselves" (p. 10). What Britzman moves toward here is "a theory of love and hate in learning." She concedes that this may seem "beside the point, in most pedagogical attempts to consider inequality and the question of identity" (p. 98) and yet this is exactly a place to begin.           In this space, Britzman questions the educational practice of, what she calls, "a passion for ignorance" (p. 57): A concept that is developed throughout the text as a tension between wanting to learn (and unlearn) and wanting to not know (and deny). The book draws its title from this complicated psychological process. Demonstrating her close relationship with Maxine Greene, whose use of the imagination Britzman calls, "a method," (p. 56) this text is above all else an "invitation to think, the invitation to imagine" (p. 77).           By taking a psychoanalytical approach Britzman explores how individuals live within a larger social context that is often conflictive--communities, cultures, histories--and how we live within and with our individual selves as well; a psychological world that is just as conflictive as the external one. Dynamic and shifting, internal and external realities organize the self and the psyche. This dynamic interpretation of lived experience- -as both psychological and social--and her psychoanalytic analysis of this dialectical process distinguishes Britzman’s work in education.           Britzman asks difficult questions, such as, "Shall we admit that something other than consciousness interferes with education?" (p. 4). She thus asks the reader to consider as central in the classroom what cannot be seen or even necessarily spoken. The concept of consciousness (for example, critical consciousness, consciousness raising) has been key in the civil rights movement, women’s movement, gay and lesbian movement and in critical pedagogy. But here Britzman explores the other side of consciousness; the unconscious. She believes that, "Education is best considered as a frontier concept: something between the teacher and the student, something yet to become" (p. 4).           Britzman also engages the processes of hate and of love in trying to uncover resistance to difference. Because she believes that learning involves conflicts that are settled and unsettled throughout life, and which occur through and within human relationships (educational, intimate, social, and analytical) she writes, "the study of learning is inseparable from the study of love" (p. 31). Britzman interweaves critical pedagogy with psychoanalysis and investigates the complex relationship of the unconscious in learning and how parts of ourselves resist what Britzman calls, "difficult knowledge" (p. 2). Toward a Theory of Love and Hate in Learning           In the chapter, "On Becoming a ‘Little Sex Researcher,’" Britzman provides new ways to think about sex education curricula. Through a series of "what if" questions (a device she uses throughout the text for imagining, what Maxwell (1996) calls "thought experiments"), she disrupts the concept of "appropriateness," the central issue in the debate over what and when to teach about sex to "minors." Britzman’s questions push the reader to imagine sexuality as constructed and to imagine what new constructs could take the current model’s place: Should sex education be coupled with appropriateness of any kind? Can a notion of appropriateness ever be uncoupled from developmental theory? What if sex education became a lifetime study of the vicissitudes of knowledge, power, and pleasure? (p. 74) Imagine, for instance, sex education as beginning with questions of "fantasy, Eros, and the vicissitudes of life" (p. 66). Imagine truly caring for the self and holding the self in enough esteem-- in a relational rather than a narcissistic sense. Then, imagine unlearning what you thought you knew about sex to learn something new: What is completely unthought is that every learning is also an unlearning. What is yet to be made is a theory of learning that can tolerate its own implication in the passion for ignorance and in the apparatus Foucault called "knowledge/power/pleasure." Shall we begin to admit that the passion for ignorance structures even critical learning? (p. 75)           In "Queer Pedagogy and Its Strange Techniques," Britzman dismantles the belief that simply more education, that is, more information will prevent more hate and its crimes. Writing with others on the failure of information to arrest hatred, Britzman states: Along with cultural activists doing AIDS education work, I assume the failure of the old information discourses of education: knowledge of "facts" does not provide a direct line to the real, to the truth, and to righteous conduct. (p. 87) The study of love necessarily includes the study of hate. How else to make sense of the murder of Matthew Shepard, a 21 year old gay man who was a University of Wyoming student? Shepard "was beaten, burned and tied to a wooden ranch fence like a scarecrow until a passerby found him a half-day later, near death." A sophomore student is quoted as saying, " That has to do with the fact this is a cowboy place. People aren’t exposed to it. They’re too close-minded" (The Ithaca Journal, October 10, 1998, p. 1B). He died five days later after being on a respirator in critical condition.           The "it" in the sophomore’s sentence is homosexuality. So despised and different--not like them--for the two young men who were arrested and charged with Shepard’s murder that a young gay man had to die, and not just die but be pinned up like a scarecrow for all to see and for all queer people to beware: This is cowboy country and no cowboys are queer. The girlfriends of the young men accused of murdering Shepard were themselves charged with accessories to the crime. When I heard this I thought how symbolic this language is--women as accessories to men--but I also saw how tightly woven sexism and homophobia are. One of the girlfriends described how her boyfriend just "lost it" when he thought of how humiliated he felt that Shepard might have come on to him. What did he fear losing? What is lost when love reverses itself into hate? What is contested? Britzman continues: If a pedagogical project is to move beyond the repetition of identity and the only two subject positions allowed when identity is understood as one of self versus others, then pedagogy itself must become a problem of reading practices, of social relations, and of the means to refuse to think straight. (p. 92) Yes, there are queer cowboys in Wyoming. Imagine an elementary or secondary school teacher saying that out loud to the two young men who killed Matthew Shepard. Could it have made a difference to admit that cowboys can be queer? What is it you hate most about yourself? What do you negate in yourself? Isn’t that what you feel surrounded by? Afraid of? Would any of these psychoanalytical questions have provoked self-awareness or a caring for the self that becomes generous and includes caring for others?           Grappling with how the dynamics of love and hate can be attended to in education, Britzman writes: In my work on pedagogy, what I want to call "queer pedagogy," I am attempting to exceed such binary oppositions as the tolerant and the tolerated and the oppressed and oppressor yet still hold onto an analysis of social difference that can account for how dynamics of subordination and subjection work at the level of the historical, the structural, the epistemological, the conceptual, the social, and the psychic. But such efforts involve thinking through an implication that can tolerate a curiosity toward one’s own negations. My interest is to provoke conditions of learning that might allow for an exploration that unsettles the sediments of what one imagines when one imagines normalcy, what one imagines when one imagines difference. (p. 95) Who do we imagine as different from ourselves? Who is normal and like us? And how has education provided the dream for this?           The next chapter, "Narcissism of Minor Differences and the Problem of Anti-Racist Pedagogy," continues to work through many of the questions raised in the previous chapter on queer pedagogy but grapples with racism and the pedagogical strategies employed to reverse it. Britzman writes: Freud formulates a rather curious category, in Civilization and Its Discontents, to ponder the inclination toward aggressive hatred between social groups. The term narcissism of minor differences describes as a problem how individuals imagine themselves as members of a particular collectivity. The tension is not so much that people join together as it is what must be done in the name of group distinction. In Freud’s words: "It is always possible to bind together a considerable number of people in love, so long as there are other people left over to receive the manifestations of their aggressiveness." (p. 97)           The relationships between racism and homophobia and the human capacity to find someone to hate as well as to love are investigated closely in these two chapters. Taken together, they constitute sustained and careful thinking on the psychological interconnections between racism and homophobia. These connections are beautifully--and painfully--drawn through her use of Jewish lesbian writing as an example. By taking a group of women who live and work in a racially ambiguous space Britzman is able to highlight many of the difficulties in developing anti-racist pedagogy which can also attend to homophobia and sexism. Britzman argues that: Given the Shoah, the idea of the Jew as "white" in both North America and Europe is barely fifty years old. In North America, persistent memories of what Joan Nestle calls, "a restricted country," the contemporary resurgence of the New Right’s militia movement and the movements of Christian fundamentalism to anti-Semitism and racism bother any seamless capacity or desire for many Jews to enmesh Jewishness with whiteness... We are left with the difficult question of something more intractable, namely the fantasy of imagining difference. (pp. 104 - 105) Her engagement with the work of Jewish lesbian writers presents the complexity of how race, gender, and sexuality interact and are constructed by and within communities, and how deeply conflictive shared identities can be. Jewish lesbian writers expose intra-community conflicts which raise questions of loyalty to the group; to be sexual is to be disloyal, to tell secrets is to betray. (These feelings of loyalty, secrecy, and betrayal are ones Britzman continues to explore in her chapter on Anne Frank’s diary). Exploring the fantasy of a unifying identity as well as "the fantasy of imagining difference" within communities, Britzman argues instead for "more than one look" (p. 112); to always include sexuality in our field of vision. Refusing to Guarantee Meaning           Denise Levertov (1987) explores the possibility of remaking language and the world letter by letter in her poem "Relearning the Alphabet." For the letter W she writes, Heart breaks but mends like good bone. (p. 99) Even while acknowledging that breaking apart one’s heart is inevitable, just as inevitable is that it will mend--if the bone is good. The hope is that underlying the pain is some solid structure that can regenerate itself and reintegrate the fragmentsóthis being necessary to risk loving again, knowing that breaks can be healed.           This poem came to mind upon finishing Britzman’s chapter, "On Making Education Inconsolable." I want to believe, as Levertov does, that things can be mended. To think of education as broken beyond repair feels unbearable but that is exactly what Britzman would like for us to do--tolerate the unbearable so as to risk learning something new. For this, she sustains throughout this chapter a dialogue with the work of Maxine Greene, especially with Professor (Britzman uses this title) Greene’s text, The Public School and the Private Vision: A Search for America in Education and Literature published in 1965.           The reason Britzman speaks with Greene has everything to do with trying to make the argument for turning to literature and the arts as a way for us in education to risk what we already think we know. Artists, Britzman agrees with Greene, "[offer] through their texts, the future stuff of curriculum--their anxious, celebratory, and transgressive dreams. What they [offer], and what Maxine Greene engages, is their refusal to guarantee meaning" (p. 52).           This refusal, I think, is the bone.           This chapter deeply saddens as it confronts the great losses of our time: The Shoah, Viet Nam, AIDS, and what is most stunning about this essay, "the unconscious of education." Britzman also returns the reader to this knowledge: The brutality of a nation’s origins returns, like the repressed, in its literature. But this return is not simply a repetition. Rather, it can be read as attempts at working through, what Freud called, "learning." (p. 54) Matthew Shepard’s murder needs working through, as the story of Anne Frank continues to be worked through. It is fair to ask, but why should we go over the brutalities again and again? What difference does it make? The question itself signals the tension between the desire to know and the passion for ignorance; but perhaps this is the place where liberatory learning is located in the psyche.           Britzman’s answer is hopeful, yet it does not minimize or smooth over the conflict. Education can be a "cure" for the reversals of love into hate, though one that recognizes how much is lost when we learn history as "a series of murders of people:" If education indeed can be a cure, it can be a cure only in the psychoanalytic sense: in creating new conditions for the capacity to love, to work, and to learn without invoking more harm and suffering. Conflict, in this story, will not go away. But what might be altered is our capacity to respond...Can the study of aggression consider "that other war," the internal conflict? (p. 129) The final chapter, "’That Lonely Discovery’: Anne Frank, Anna Freud, and the Question of Pedagogy," investigates the teaching of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and the controversies surrounding its publication. Here, Britzman again attends to the internal conflicts within a community as it struggles to represent to the outside world its version--or more precisely the version--of "difficult knowledge" (p. 117). Erik Erikson (1964) in, Insight and Responsibility, writes about "The First Psychoanalyst" and uses the phrase "lonely discovery" to describe Freud’s development of psychoanalysis. Britzman draws on Erikson’s phrase as a backdrop to her understanding of the lives and writings of Anne Frank and Anna Freud. But we might also think about how our own reading and teaching of the diary is another form of "lonely discovery."           Although Britzman is deeply interested in her subjects’ lives as Jewish women, her aim is not biography. Instead, she places their stories (Anna Freud’s writings and Anne Frank’s diary) into three kinds of time frames: "the time of the writing [of the diary], the time of finding and publishing the diary, and our own time of pedagogical engagement" (p. 114). In this way she explores, for example, how Frank’s story is read again and again and what might be learned at each reading.           Britzman thereby raises two large questions: "What project has the diary of Anne Frank been attached to in school curriculum? And how does the work of Anna Freud, and of psychoanalysis generally, open our thinking to the more difficult possibilities of our hopes for both the diary’s and our students’ places in the school curriculum?" (p. 117). Her investigation finds the places where private secrets are made public for an audience; today, mostly an audience of school children. She follows the dynamics of how this story was molded intentionally for an audience, by the writer and then by the publisher. For Britzman, serious ethical questions are raised by the act of writing one’s private, secret story and then willing it into history as a document that carries this story beyond itself.           Britzman finds that, "Otto Frank wanted his daughter’s diary to be a story of adolescence, not a Jewish story" (p. 121). But what did Anne Frank want? To this question Britzman provides this excerpt from the diary: "Of course," writes Anne Frank on march 29, 1944, "everyone pounced on my dairy. Just imagine how interesting it would be if I were to publish a novel about the Secret Annex.... Seriously, though, ten years after the war people would find it very amusing to read how we lived, what we ate, and what we talked about as Jews in hiding. Although I tell you a great deal about our lives, you still know very little about us." (p. 113) And what does Britzman want with providing yet another reading of Anne Frank? Anne Frank’s statement, "Although I tell you a great deal about our lives, you still know very little about us" haunts Britzman’s reading of the diary as she attempts to work through the psychic trauma contained in the diary’s pages. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl thus becomes a site of "contentious history:" For the young girl called "Anne Frank" does more than haunt the writings about Jewish European genocide, where one passes through Anne Frank on the way to the consideration of the sheer numbers; her reference appears in the most unexpected places: in book advertisements of adolescent diaries, in television sitcoms, in short stories, and in contemporary films. The figure of Anne Frank has been burdened with, at once, too much history, too much quota of affect. This chapter explores the contentious projections onto the figure of Anne Frank, which often travel under the name of history. (P. 114 - 115) Britzman asks further why this is the most widely read book on the Holocaust. Is it because, as Eleanor Roosevelt writes in her Introduction to Anne’s diary, "This is a remarkable book. Written by a young girl--and the young are not afraid of telling the truth--it is one of the wisest and most moving commentaries on war and its impact on human beings that I have ever read" (p. vii). But there are no easy answers: Can the diary serve both as a universal coming of age story and as a voice for the vast numbers of murdered Jewish children? How do those not directly affected by the Holocaust encounter its meaning? And how do these unresolvable tensions structure the fault lines of our own unconscious pedagogical efforts? These haunting questions require a return to that first "lonely discovery": psychoanalytic investigation. (p. 125) In this chapter as in others, it is in this process of returning that Britzman turns to Anna Freud’s writing.           Britzman’s book is important for educators who are grappling with resistances to liberatory education. She brings new insight into why it is still extremely difficult to move beyond the tolerance/intolerance paradigm, or "month of..." or "foods of...," and into more authentic transformation. She offers a convincing argument for the centrality of psychoanalytic perspectives to pedagogical strategy and teaching generally. In spite of the critical political stance of much multicultural and anti-racist pedagogy, they often deny the psychodynamics of love and hate that structure the "passion for ignorance." Until we engage these dynamics, we cannot truly unlearn this world. References Britzman, D. P. (1987). Cultural myths in the making of a teacher: Biography and social structure in teacher education. In Okazawa-Rey, M., Anderson, J., and Traver, R. Teachers, Teaching, and Teacher Education. Reprint Series No. 19. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Review. Britzman, D.P. (1991). Practice makes practice: A critical study of learning to teach. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Erikson, E. H. (1964). Insight and responsibility. NY: W.W. Norton and Company. Frank, A. (1967) [1952]. Anne Frank: The diary of a young girl. Translated from the Dutch by B.M. Mooyaart. NY: Doubleday. Greene, M. (1988). The dialectic of freedom. NY: Teachers College Press, Columbia University. Levertov, D. (1987). Relearning the alphabet. In Poems 1968-1972. New York: New Directions Books. Maxwell, J. A. (1996). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. About the Reviewer Victoria I. Muñoz Victoria I. Muñoz is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Wells College and the author of the book, Where "Something Catches": Work, Love, and Identity in Youth (SUNY-Press, 1995).

Chalker, D.M. (Ed.) (1999) Leadership for Rural Schools: Lessons for all Educators. Reviewed by Dennis M. Mulcahy

Chalker, D.M. (Ed.) (1999) Leadership for Rural Schools: Lessons for all Educators. Lancaster, PA: Technomic Publishing 308 pp. + xvi $64.95       ISBN 1-56676-695-8 (Cloth) Reviewed by Dennis M. Mulcahy Memorial University of Newfoundland May 23, 1999         As many rural education researchers have pointed out, small rural schools have been in and out of favor with both urban and rural education leaders and authorities (DeYoung, 1987,1991; Howley & Eckman,1997; Nachtigal, 1982; Sher, 1977). When one and two room community schools were the only forms of education in most places, they were valued, as Alan DeYoung notes in the Foreword to Leadership for Rural Schools, "as bastions of democracy and civic purpose" (xiii). By the end of the nineteenth century, the views of the emergent professional education leaders began to change, and the rural school came increasingly to be depicted as a problem--an impediment to educational progress and development. In fact, the history of rural education reform in the twentieth century actually chronicles a concerted effort to improve small rural schools out of existence (DeYoung & Howley, 1995; Mulcahy, 1996; 1999) by imposing on them a standardized and homogenized system of schooling based on urban models. City and state or provincial educational leaders spearheaded the assault on small schools and community-based education. Unfortunately, the relentless efforts to consolidate schools and make them more distant from children's homes were often supported, sometimes enthusiastically, by rural educators who had bought into the ideology underpinning the one best system: "bigger is better" (Tyack, 1974).         For most of this century few voices were heard extolling the virtues of small-scale schooling and community-based education. The struggle to maintain small community schools was left to the grass roots efforts of rural folks who often had little to draw on but their emotions and their strong belief in and commitment to their local schools. In response to their efforts to keep small rural schools alive, professional educators often accused rural citizens of being ignorant, standing in the way of progress, and not having the best interests of their children at heart.         Just when the rural school problem had almost been "solved" and the small rural community school was all but a distant memory in most places, education researchers and leaders discovered some unhappy truths: Bigger is not necessarily better, there is value in diversity, and many of the qualities characterizing rural community schools are worthy of emulation in all schools.         DeYoung succinctly summarizes this important sea change: The evidence now is that bigger schools are usually not better schools, that multi-age classrooms more frequent in rural schools can have important instructional advantages over graded schools, and that the sort of participation in extracurricular activities recognized as critical today for student success is more possible in smaller schools than in larger schools. We are also finding that equal educational opportunity is more about school and community connections and uniform curricular opportunities that have typically been the forte of rural, not urban, schools. (xiii-xiv)         These are exciting, if challenging, times to be involved in rural education research and development. There is an increasing body of research and scholarly work to draw on by those interested in enhancing the provision of education and schooling in rural communities. The work inspired and supported by the Annenberg Challenge under the directorship of Paul Nachtigal is making a major contribution to the field. The ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools continues to grow in value as an essential resource for rural educators and researchers. Leadership in Rural Schools is an excellent example of the quality work currently being produced under the general rubric of rural education studies. Edited by Donald Chalker, it is a collection of sixteen essays, which, with one exception, represent new work.         Leadership for Rural Schools provides a comprehensive overview of the major issues and concerns that affect rural education and schooling. For the newcomer, this book is an essential introduction to the field. For those more experienced and knowledgeable in rural education, this book shares some interesting new research and provides valuable new insights and informed perspectives.         "The idea for this book," states Chalker "developed from conversations" among colleagues at Western Carolina University, who shared a realization that: The need for rural research is vast, and the educational system needs to understand the value of rural education settings and the appropriateness of small schools. Bigger is no longer better (original emphasis). (p. 7) In the introductory chapter, Chalker identifies two intended audiences and purposes: First, to "help educational leaders who work in small schools or rural settings better understand their role" and second, to "help all educators learn elements of the rural model that can enhance every school" (p. 7). To achieve these goals, Chalker and his fellow contributors set out to explore and discuss some key questions about rural education: Can ruralness and smallness be defined? Are rural and/or small schools unique? Is the uniqueness of rural schools a positive condition? Do rural schools require leaders who understand rural uniqueness? Can research and a study of best practice in rural school leadership lead to knowledge that educational leaders can use to improve rural schools? (p. 7)         The sixteen chapters of the book are divided into four sections: "The Rural Setting," "Rural Leadership: The View from the Top," "Rural Site Based Leadership" and "Leadership and Organization Skills for Rural School Leaders." Essays in all four sections offer perspectives on one or more of the five questions identified above. In doing this review I will provide a quick overview of each section and attempt to give the reader some indication of the particular focus of each chapter. With so many selections, I cannot hope, in just a few comments about each, to do justice to the very fine body of individual work that has been assembled here by the editor. Be that as it may, I do hope to convince the reader that this is a book well worth a more thorough exploration.         Section One, " The Rural Setting," consists of three essays including an introduction by the editor. The purpose of this section, according to Chalker, "is to establish the parameters of rural education" (p. 7). The primary questions addressed examine the uniqueness of the rural context and the distinctive advantages as well as challenges that are associated with small scale schooling. I really appreciated Chalker's unique introduction to this scholarly book of readings: When I was about to enter a K-12 high school in a small Ohio village, my father came home one evening from the barber shop and handed me a four-year schedule that he declared would properly prepare me for college. While waiting his turn for a haircut at the village barbershop, he conversed with one of my teachers (also the school's only coach). Coach George developed a high school program for me and had his hair trimmed at the same time. So for the next four years, I took every course outlined, studied enough to earn presentable grades, played all three sports the school offered (coached, of course, by Coach George), delivered the commencement address and then, indeed, matriculated successfully to college. My parents, my teachers, and community members never really offered me another choice. I am thankful that I grew up in small town and attended a small school. Editing a book on rural school leadership is a rewarding way to celebrate my rural roots. (p. 5)         By beginning with the personal, Chalker not only establishes his rural roots, but also illustrates something of the style and content of the rural educational experience. His account of his personal and professional experiences contributes to the attempt to define rural education. Rural and small schools tend to be more personal and informal than larger urban schools; at the same time they cannot (nor should they try to) offer the menu of possibilities in curricular and co-curricular experiences of larger school. Chalker's memories of his small schools are mixed "some pleasant and some troubling;" nevertheless, he continues to believe that, "small schools in rural communities offer a path to excellence that eludes others" (p. 5). This excellence is achieved in part because of the "close cooperation between teacher and parent, a basic curriculum easily understood and goal directed, and a small town population that values its local school" (p. 5).         I don't suppose there is anyone who claims "rural education" as her or his special area of research interest who has not had to deal with questions such as, "What's so unique or different about rural schools that they deserve special interest or consideration?" Behind the question invariably are the beliefs that there is nothing unique about rural schools and that small schools are simply smaller versions of larger schools. Perhaps the most irritating question of all is, "Do we still have small schools? Haven't they all been closed?" As a university- based researcher I have to deal with these questions practically every time any rural initiative is introduced in Faculty meetings.         This state of affairs points to the value of chapters two and three of Leadership for Rural Schools. In their essay "The Nature of Rural Schools: Trends, Perceptions and Values," Mary Jean Herzog and Robert Pittman address the challenge of trying to establish the uniqueness of rural education and schooling. One persistent challenge, the authors point out, resides in the fact that the very concept of "rural" lacks a definitive meaning. The term is generally defined by default or from a deficit perspective, for example, "a rural community is a non-urban or non-metropolitan area with fewer than 2,500 inhabitants." The frame of reference is always urban, a circumstance, the authors suggest, that "seems to have contributed to a weak identity among our students: they often appear apologetic for being from the country"(p. 13). A second challenge is the fact that negative and demeaning images and connotations of "rural" are deeply ingrained in the language and the culture. As Toni Haas (1991) argues, modern American society does not value ruralness; prejudices against rural people and places are strong. Rural students seem to have internalized those prejudices, and they often seem to have an inferiority complex about their origins. (p. 14)         Herzog and Pittman also review demographic, economic and educational trends to point out how each of these contributes to making rural education uniquely challenging. Moreover, the authors note that the most significant educational trend of the century, school and district consolidation, has not lived up to its promise. Citing Stern (1994), they point out, "although consolidation has resulted in bigger districts and bigger schools, rural schools are still smaller and poorer than nonrural schools" (p. 18). At the heart of the problem are funding policies and allocation formulas that are tied to student numbers.         Fewer students mean less money and, Fewer dollars mean fewer teachers and fewer advanced or specialized courses, thus putting students in rural schools at a disadvantage, a situation not unlike the urban inequalities Kozol (1991) describes. (p. 18)         The challenges identified by Herzog and Pittman are formidable. In the second half of their essay they offer a perspective on the inherent strengths of rural communities, strengths on which educators can draw in order to address the challenges. As a way of determining the nature of such strengths the authors carried out an attitude survey with 108 education students attending Western Carolina University.         From their analysis of student responses, Herzog and Pittman came to the conclusion that the "positive feelings [students] had about living in rural areas were connected with their families, homes and small communities and with peace, safety, and caring"(p.22). Their students' "sense of community" and "smallness of scale" represent the best qualities of rural life.         In chapter three, "'It's Déjà vu All Over Again': The Rural School Problem Revisited," Penny Smith provides a detailed and comprehensive review of the criticisms that have been made of rural schooling since the nineteenth century. She notes, "the list of ways in which rural schools have failed their students [according to their critics] has remained remarkably unchanged over most of the of the last two centuries" (p. 27). The solution to "the rural school problem" has also remained unchanged: Close and consolidate smaller community schools so that rural schools can more nearly approximate larger urban schools. Smith's historical review of rural educational reform is both scholarly and accessible. She notes that the rural school problem was "discovered" in the late nineteenth century when educational reformers started to view "the rural components of their state school systems as defective and were arguing that one reason for those defects was the rural environment in which they operated"(p. 30).         Starting with the NEA 's Committee of Twelve on Rural Schools (1890) and the Report of the Country Life Commission (1911), Smith reviews a hundred years of critiques of and proposed solutions for rural education and schooling. In her review of most of the significant writing on rural education in the US--both government reports and the work of current rural education scholars--she provides the reader with a provocative capsule history of rural education. It is a remarkable achievement. I suggest that this essay alone makes the book a worthwhile acquisition for anyone interested or involved in rural education. Noting the limitations of such a classification scheme, Smith states that the various ideological perspectives on rural education reform, past and present, can be grouped for convenience into three non-exclusive groups, which she labels "neo- romantics, romantic traditionalists, and political traditionalists." She notes that all three groups more or less agree on the challenges associated with rural schools. There is less agreement, however, when it comes to solutions. Traditionalists of both the romantic and political stripe, Smith contends, continue to "advocate universal remedies, use the language of industry, and are inclined to think about schools as a global activity. Place is something one might acknowledge, but is not as significant a variable as other factors in determining what and how to teach"(p. 44).         Neo-romantics, says Smith, (She groups here Jonathan Sher, Paul Nachtigal, Alan DeYoung, Craig and Aimee Howley, and Paul Theobald.), affirm in their writings many of the practices that have long been associated with rural education: Lower class sizes, smaller schools, the establishment of a sense of community, service education, multi-age groupings, cooperative learning, interdisciplinary projects, paired teacher-student advancement, integration of the community into the program of study, and an emphasis on returning the personal to what has become in large schools an impersonal enterprise. (p. 44)         Smith notes that none of the ideological or practical questions regarding rural purposes or solutions has been resolved. She concludes that not much progress has been made despite 100 years of debate. Education remains in the grip of the one-size-fits-all approach. "The romantics notwithstanding, generic has come to mean what we do in suburban and, sometimes in urban schools; it is [rural] education with a city face"(p. 45).         Smith concludes her essay with what she believes rural administrators might learn from the history of struggle for rural schooling. She maintains that rural leaders must recognize that there is no "monolithic place called 'Rural'" and that they must be "trained to think within a particular rural context" (p. 55). Most important, they must find the "courage" to act within the context--action that may be quite challenging given the current "era of national standard-setting and standardized test accountability systems geared to an urban school model and urban, industrial and largely impersonal economic aspirations"(p. 55).         Section Two, "Rural Leadership the View from the Top," examines rural school leadership at the district level. In Chapter Four, "The Rural School Board," Marilyn Grady and Bernita Krumm focus on the leadership task of building positive working relationships with rural school boards. Reviewing the research of Grady and Bryant (1990), the authors note that superintendents tend to identify board members' families and friends and board members' roles as the two most frequent sources of "critical incidents" between superintendents and boards. From the point of view of the school board presidents, the greatest sources of conflict involved communications and human relations issues and incidents.         Citing the research of Ferre and associates (1988) and Kennedy and Barker (1986) the authors identify, not surprisingly, financial and funding issues as the most critical issues faced by those responsible for running small rural school districts. Other issues include "improving school curriculum, regional economic conditions, state regulations, and providing an adequate variety of classes" (p.69). Given the centrality and significance of school consolidation as indicated in Section One of the text, it is surprising that according to Grady and Krumm, "School consolidation did not appear to be a major issue"(p. 69).         In Chapter Five, Ed Chance focuses on "The Rural Superintendent," exploring why some succeed while others fail. Chance reminds us that the superintendent's job in both rural and urban settings is highly "complex and full of conflict, politics and community input" (p.83). The major difference between the two contexts, however, is that the rural superintendent "may also be teacher, counselor, building principal, bus driver, and the total central office staff. The typical rural superintendent wears many hats and answers to a multitude of constituents on a daily basis"(p. 83).         According to Chance, researchers (e.g., Chance & Capps, 1992; Grady & Bryant 1991) identify communication problems as the number one reason why superintendents fail in their jobs and are dismissed. "Open, unfettered, honest communication between superintendent and the board, community, and staff represent a key issue in the success or failure of superintendents" (p. 85). The second most common reason for superintendents to be fired is financial mismanagement. Chance notes, "financial mismanagement really means financial incompetence"(p. 85).         The successful rural superintendent, Chance states, must be a competent manager and conserver of limited school and community resources while being an excellent human relations expert. He must focus on students and their well being, while also taking into consideration the larger, politically charged venue of the rural community and rural school district. ( p.93) Chance identifies as essential characteristics "wisdom, courage, common sense and a willingness to learn throughout his/her career"(p.93).         In chapter six, "Personal and Human Resources Functions in the Rural School District: Some Insights and Directions," Robert Morris and Les Potter argue that what is needed in rural schools is, "a fresh perspective on democratic leadership that maximizes the strengths and minimizes the weaknesses of rural and small town schools"(p. 95). Morris and Potter begin by making the important point that "one of the considerable shortcomings of traditional study of administrative leadership in schools is that it is decontextualized and, by default, aimed primarily at middle-class white America" (p. 98). More and more, we can realize that administrative leadership in suburbia or the inner city is not an appropriate model for educational leadership in small and rural communities, where the school is an intimate part of the community. In small towns the superintendents and principals are public leaders [and can] contribute not only to educational enhancement but also to community enhancement as well. They have much more potential power for community change and leadership than do their urban counterparts. (p. 98)         Morris and Potter spend the rest of the chapter making the case that a democratic leadership style would enhance the rural administrator's ability to create a collaborative structure that would "evolve initiatives for revitalizing the educational, economic, and social life of rural and small-town America" (p.99). The authors criticize the internal governance of most rural and small-town schools as following "outmoded administrative theory" and being "frequently authoritarian and traditional, pitting teachers and administrators against one another" (p. 108).         In Chapter 7, Richard Haynes focuses on school improvement and instructional outcomes. He states that the underlying assumption for the ideas presented in the chapter is that the "principal is the central level for instructional improvement at the local level; therefore the focus for new ideas and practices needs to center on the principal"(p. 111). Haynes provides a competent overview of many generic school improvement ideas and practices. As he states in his conclusion, "school improvement takes time, teamwork and clear communication"(p. 133). What he does not address adequately, however, are the contextual issues and concerns that were discussed in the first section of the book. Particularly in rural districts, but in other districts as well, local needs and priorities must become the major considerations that guide school improvement initiatives.         The third section of the text consists of three essays on the theme, "Rural Site Based Leadership." The first of these, written by J. Casey Hurley, aims to "illustrate how rural schools that build on their strengths become fertile environments for children" (p. 140). According to Hurley, the key to success for rural schools is to identify and build on the intrinsic strengths of small-scale schooling and the unique characteristics of rural places. In this chapter Hurley reports on his research with fourteen rural school leaders in twelve states.         He presents the research findings in a series of anecdotal narratives, which are entertaining and at the same time illustrative of how the rural education context functions and how effective rural leaders respond to that context. More powerful and evocative than any set of statistics, the stories provide rich vignettes that go a long way towards defining the rural experience. This research reminds us that, to become aware of the strengths of a rural community, we need to become part of that community on its terms.         In "Southern Schools, Southern Teachers: Redefining Leadership in Rural Communities," Eleanor Blair Hilty takes as her focus "attempts to define the roles and responsibilities of teachers working in leadership roles in southern schools"(p. 157). The prevalence of rural poverty and notions about the deficits inherent in rural communities in the South, she states, provide a necessary context for her discussion.         Hilty makes the point that the rhetoric of educational reform over the last decade is fundamentally flawed in both its critique and suggested generic solutions because it has ignored "important differences that set apart schools in urban, suburban, and rural school districts"(p. 157). Further, she says, attempts to "re- form or restructure have often lacked an ideology that informs or shapes the direction of these efforts"(p. 160). Decidedly absent have been individuals "guided by a set of beliefs that reflect a commitment to equity and excellence"(p. 160).         What kinds of teachers do we need in schools situated in communities with high levels of poverty and low levels of educational attainment? How do we prepare such teachers to take effective leadership roles in these contexts? Hilty offers this perspective as a beginning: It is important for rural teachers to begin to articulate those social and cultural phenomena that impact their schools and classrooms, and for us as educators to begin to train teachers to be leaders in rural schools--to empower teachers, students, and parents to articulate a vision of culturally relevant pedagogy that recognizes the unique social and cultural identities of southern school and communities. (p.169)         In Hilty's view, given the unique socio-economic circumstances of rural southern schools, teachers have to be prepared to "teach against the grain." Among other things, teaching against the grain means being prepared to "alter curricula, raise questions about common [and taken- for-granted] practices, and resist inappropriate decisions"(p. 168). For the author, "it seems intuitively obvious that teachers acting as leaders must begin to 'lead against the grain' in schools where poverty and school failure are pervasive, and the aims and purposes of the schools are not congruent with those of the community"(p.168). Hilty is right, but, unfortunately, what is intuitively obvious to her continues to be obscured or overlooked in most teacher education programs, urban or rural. Conceptualizing the teacher as an intellectual agent of social change and empowerment is far removed from the curricula of most faculties of education.         "Students Are People, Too" by Anna Hicks is the final selection in Section Three. The author presents a "rationale for the active involvement of students in rural school leadership" (p. 173). Hicks suggests that the voice of students is often not heard in educational reform efforts. According to Hicks, adults should listen to and make room for "the fresh, insightful voices of students" (p. 173).         The author devotes most of this chapter to an overview of exemplary curricular and extra-curricular programs that illustrate student-centered democratic principles in action. Each of these programs and learning experiences occurred because the adults were prepared to trust and believe in their students' capabilities and sense of responsibility. In each of these examples the students, both high school and elementary, rose to the occasion.         The final section of Leadership for Rural Schools consists of six chapters under the general heading, "Leadership and Organizational Skills for Rural School Leaders." In "Rural Education: Leadership and Technology," Robert Houghton sets out to answer a number of important questions including: What conceptual and technical knowledge must educational leaders have to make proper strategic and tactical decisions for the information age? And what potential does the information-age have for innovation and transformation in the rural school system? Houghton rightly cautions rural educators against simply seeing the pressure "to wire up" rural schools as another urban innovation being imposed on rural communities. Computer technology and the use of the internet for educational purposes do not constitute a fad that in time will fade away. Increasingly, our schools, as well as our society as a whole, will be totally enveloped in a telecommunications web. We can choose to let it happen to us or we can take an active role in controlling and shaping our own electronic futures. Choices and decisions can be made so that "rural purposes" (Howley & Barker, 1997) are served, because, as Houghton points out, "[u]rban and rural solutions may not always be the same amidst a rich array of [telecommunications] alternatives (p. 196). One body of knowledge--critical literature on technology and education--that Houghton does not address in his article should nevertheless be construed as essential reading for rural school administrators. Decisions about telecommunications do not just concern technical specifications and long distance charges. They also concern fundamental educational decisions that have profound philosophical and intellectual implications.         Chapter 12, "Nobody is as Smart as All of Us: Collaboration in Rural Schools," by William Clauss is an "invitation to the reader to reexamine the potential power of the collaborative process" (p.12). Collaboration is also the theme of chapter thirteen, in which Ed Chance shares two case studies of rural districts engaged in the process of collaborative vision building. "Rural schools and rural communities," according to Chance, "exist in a unique symbiotic relationship"(p. 231). Together the school and the community constitute "a greater community," one that "epitomizes people who share a common core of values regarding the young people of that community and their future" (p. 231). This greater community is united not just on the basis of geography but also on the basis of a "shared sense of belonging, caring and community focus"(p. 231). Of course, not all rural schools and communities have this kind of relationship. As Chance points out, schools and communities often do not realize their important bond until the existence of one or the other is threatened by external forces, and, unfortunately, "it may simply be impossible to develop a collaborative interdependence at that stage of the game"(p. 233).         The editor of the book, Don Chalker returns in Chapter 14 to offer a discussion of "Politics and Decision-Making: The Rural Scene." "Rural school leaders," states Chalker, "must understand the infusion or, as the case may be, the intrusion of politics into the educational decisions"(p. 243). In this chapter Chalker explores the nature of the political climate of small and rural districts and provides some suggestions about how to survive, cope, and even succeed within such a charged context.         Decision-making in all school districts, urban and rural, is politically based, at least to some degree. Rural school politics, according to Chalker, are unique for at least three reasons: First, rural areas and small towns have constituencies that are probably more open and more knowledgeable about local politics than their more cosmopolitan neighbors in suburban or urban America. Second, rural politics operate from a smaller population base where almost every political player is known in the community. And, third, rural politics focus more on local issues than state or national issues. (p. 245) These differences, claims Chalker, are important enough to require a different approach by rural leaders. He argues that the fundamental political problem faced by rural school administrators is the "tension between the community's need for school leadership that can lead and be trusted, and the same community's desire to have its own will carried out by that leadership" (p. 248).         Chalker also identifies the consolidation movement and changes in school funding as the two key state initiatives that have had "tremendous effect on rural education"(p. 252). Chalker refers to the work of Sher (1986) and Monk and Haller (1990) as examples of research that can be used to counter the arguments used by state-level decision- makers to justify closing community schools. In Chalker's view: Rural school leaders must stand strong against consolidation movements for they are political rather than educational. At the same time, rural school leaders must extol the virtues of their smallness and ruralness. (p. 253)         In Chapter 15, "Assessing School District Quality: Contrasting State and Citizens' Perspectives," Emile Haller, Janie Nusser, and David Monk focus on the increasing pressure placed on schools to be accountable for educational outcomes. The authors raise an essential question: Is there agreement between parents and state bureaucrats regarding the criteria used and the actual judgments made about public schools? To answer the question Haller and associates report on their research conducted in New York State.         Findings from Haller and associates' study reveal that "existing state measures do no persuasively demonstrate to ordinary citizens that a problem exists in their schools"(p. 263). According to the authors, their most significant finding, "has been that residents' judgements of the merit of their schools bear only tangential relationships to the assessments made by the SED" (p. 279). The authors take this finding to be vitally important because, in their view, a successful reform effort, depends in no small part on the assumptions that the publication of data illustrating schools' performance on various measures will prompt citizens to exert pressure on school officials in deficient districts. If citizens and state officials do no agree on which criteria best capture school quality or on the summative judgement derived from those criteria, then there is little reason to expect that they will conclude that their own assessments are inferior to those of the state.(p.279)         The final selection in the book is "Curriculum Needs for a Rural Native American Community" by Doris Hipps. I am pleased that the editor included at least one chapter on this topic. The overwhelming majority of aboriginal schools in North America are situated in rural communities and should be included in any study of rural education. As several researchers have pointed out, diversity is a highly significant characteristic of rural places, so much so that using the term "rural" as a general descriptor lacks precise meaning. Hipps' article reminds us that ethnic and aboriginal (Indian and Inuit) groups are important and unique contributors to the diversity of rural places. The author maintains that educational leaders must make take into account the cultural identity and the unique belief systems and learning styles of native peoples. Conclusion         Leadership for Rural Schools makes an important contribution to rural education studies. A major strength of the book lies in the fact that most of the ideas and perspectives presented have emerged from grounded experiences in rural contexts. The various authors have obviously "been there, done that," and are well able to use their experiences to derive insights and suggestions that have wide currency for others working in rural places. Their voices are authentic, their observations keen, and their conclusions both affirmative and provocative. A notable theme running through the book concerns the need for educational leaders to be courageous. Smith (Chapter Three) and Chance (Chapter Five) speak of courage directly, whereas others, such as Hilty (Chaper Nine) and Chalker (Chapter Fourteen), make implicit references. Hilty speaks of "teaching and leading against the grain" and Chalker of the need for rural leaders to take a "strong stand against political decisions" that have no educational foundation to support them.         Funk and Wagnalls' (1987) dictionary defines courage as "that quality of mind or spirit enabling one to meet danger or opposition with fearlessness, calmness and firmness"(p. 309). Moreover, the phrase "the courage of one's convictions" means having the courage "to act in accordance with what one feels to be right"(p. 309). Books such as Leadership for Rural Schools provide considerable knowledge and persuasive arguments that can be used by educational leaders in their struggles to improve the quality of education in rural places. The evidence is readily available that enables rural leaders to rebuff the conventional arguments that have been used to justify the urbanization of rural schooling. Alternative models-- responsive to the rural context--are emerging. But where will the rural leaders find the courage they need in order to act on the basis of this knowledge? And for those of us responsible for educating the next generation of leaders, how might we teach courage? By example? References Chance, E.W., & Capps, J.L. (1992). Superintendent stability in schools. National Forum on Educational Administration and Supervision Journal, 9(2), 23-32. DeYoung, A.J. (1987). The status of American rural education research: An integrated review and commentary. Review of Educational Research, 57(2), 123-148. DeYoung, A.J. (1990). The political economy of rural school consolidation. Peabody Journal of Education, 67(4), 63-89. De Young, A.J. (1991). Rural education, issues and practice. New York: Garland. Ferre, V.A. et al. (1988). Rural superintendents view their role: Ranking the issues. Research in Rural Education, 5(1), 33-34. Funk & Wagnalls Canadian College Dictionary. (1986). Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside. Grady, M.L., & Bryant, M.T. (1990). Critical incidents between superintendents and school boards: Implications for practice. Planning and Changing, 20(4), 206-214. Grady, M.L., & Bryant, M.T. (1991), School board turmoil and superintendent turnover: What pushes them to the brink? School Administrator, 48(2), 19-26. Haas, T. (1991). Why reform doesn't apply. In A.J. DeYoung (Ed.), Rural education, issues and practice (pp. 412-446). New York: Garland. Howley, C.B., & Barker, B. (1987). The national information infrastructure: Keeping rural values and purposes in mind. ERIC? Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools Eric Digest: EDO-RC-97-4 Howley, C.B., & Eckman, J.M. (1997). Sustainable small schools. Charleston, WV: Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools. Kennedy, R., & Barker, B.O. (1986, October). Rural school superintendents: A national study of perspectives of school board presidents. Presentation at the annual conference of the Rural Education Association, Little Rock, AR. (ERIC Document Service Reproduction No. ED 274 497) Kozol, J.(1991). Savage inequalities: Children in America's schools (First ed.). New York, NY: Crown Publishers. Monk, D. H., & Haller, E.J. (1990). Keeping an eye on the reformers: State education bureaucrats and the future of small rural schools. In A.B. Bacharach, (Ed.), Education reform: Making sense of it all. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Mulcahy, D. (1996, October). Reforming small schools out of existence: A Canadian example. Presentation at the annual meeting of the National Rural Education Association, San Antonio, TX. Mulcahy, D.M. (1999) Conflicting views on rural education reform. Morning Watch 27(1). Nachtigal, P. (Ed.). (1982). Rural education in search of a better way. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Sher, J.P. (Ed.). (1977). Education in rural America: A reassessment of conventional wisdom. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Sher, J.P. (1986) Heavy meddle. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina School Board Association. Stern, J. D. (Ed.) (1994). The condition of education in rural schools. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Tyack, D.B. (1974). The one best system: A history of American urban education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. About the Reviewer Dennis Mulchay Dennis Mulcahy is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education, Memorial University, Canada. He has a PhD in Curriculum Studies from the University of Toronto. His interests in rural education are eclectic and include: one-room schools, multiage pedagogy, and distance education. Since 1992 he has closely monitored the process of rural educational reform in his home province of Newfoundland and Labrador and has been actively involved in helping rural communities resist the closure of their small schools. He presents regularly at NREA conferences and is the editor of The Small Schools Newsletter.