TABLE OF CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION: Let's Begin from the Beginning -- NEOLIBERAL GLOBALISMS -- NON-NAÏVE NAÏVETÉ: THIN INTELLECTUALISM AND THE CULT OF POLITICAL ILLITERACY -- CARNIVAL: TO BEGIN FROM THE BEGINNING -- WORKING WITHIN THE CRACKS OF THE SYSTEM - FINAL NOTES -- REFERENCES -- PERSONAL NOTE -- NOTE -- REFERENCES -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- 1. WHAT IS A FACT? AND WHO CAN WE / SHOULD WE TRUST? -- NOTE -- 2. DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION AGAINST CORPORATE SCHOOL REFORM: The New Market Bureaucracy in U.S. Public Schooling -- INTRODUCTION -- THE NEOLIBERAL PROMISE OF DEBUREAUCRATIZING PUBLIC EDUCATION -- THE NEW MARKET BUREAUCRACY IN PUBLIC SCHOOLING -- THE NEW MARKET POSITIVISM IN THE DOMINANT EDUCATIONAL REFORMS -- THE NEW MARKET POSITIVISM -- INSTITUTIONALIZING THE NEW MARKET POSITIVISM IN THE NEW PRIVATIZED BUREAUCRACY -- CONCLUSION -- NOTES -- 3. GUIDING EMERGENCE: Understanding Cultural Change in an Urban Catholic School -- METHODS -- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: A SYSTEMS ANALYSIS OF SCHOOL CULTURE -- THE URBAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL CONTEXT: SHIFTING DEMOGRAPHICS AND EXTERNAL PRESSURES -- THREE STRATEGIES FOR SCHOOL CHANGE -- DREAM BIG: CREATING A COMMON SCHOOL CULTURE -- DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP: CREATING STRUCTURES OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING -- INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP: CHALLENGING AND SUPPORTING TEACHERS IN THE CLASSROOM -- GUIDING EMERGENCE: CHALLENGE, SUPPORT, AND BALANCE -- NOTE -- REFERENCES -- 4. THE ENTREPRENEURIAL UNIVERSITY: Where It All Went Wrong -- THE ORIGINS OF A CONCEPT -- REINVENTING GOVERNMENT -- ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK -- NOTES -- REFERENCES -- 5. HIGHER-ORDER CRITICAL THINKING IN TEACHER PREPARATION: Putting 21st Century Skills Into Action -- PURPOSE OF STUDY -- Research Design and Methodology -- Data Analysis and Limitations of Study -- Challenges and Needs of a Growing Program -- RESULTS.

Need for Further Research within a Larger Framework of Inquiry -- CONCLUSIONS -- REFERENCES -- APPENDIX A -- Higher Order Critical Thinking Strategies -- APPENDIX B -- Teaching Strategies of Adjuncts -- 6. TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP: Positivity and Power in a Cohort Model Doctoral Program -- REVIEW OF LITERATURE -- DESIGN OF QUESTIONNAIRE -- RESPONSES AND ANALYSIS -- RESPONSES -- EMERGENCE OF TWO PROMINENT THEMES -- SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE COHORT'S TIMELINE -- THOSE WHO STEP UP AND THOSE WHO HOLD BACK -- RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH -- REFERENCES -- APPENDIX -- 7. HOW CAN THE PROCESSES OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE PROMOTE A CULTURE THAT FOCUSES ON IMPROVED STUDENT LEARNING? -- INTRODUCTION -- LITERATURE REVIEW -- What Are the Processes of Organizational Change? -- The Impact of Innovation on Organizational Change and Student Learning -- How Can the Processes of Organizational Change Impact A School's Culture? -- The Impact of Innovation on Organizational Change and Student Learning -- How Can the Culture Improve Student Learning? -- DISCUSSION -- What Are the Components of Change That Are Needed in Higher Education in the 21st Century? -- CONCLUSION -- Implications for Post-secondary Education -- REFERENCES -- 8. UNACCOMPLISHED UTOPIA: Neoliberal Asphyxiating on Higher Education in Europe -- INTRODUCTION -- ACADEMIC CAPITALISM -- ENQA AND OECD - NEOLIBERAL FINAL BLESSING -- FINDING WHAT IS MISS(Y)ING -- DEMOCRATIZING DEMOCRACY -- NOTES -- REFERENCES -- 9. GLOBALIZATION: The Loadstone Rock to Education -- INTRODUCTION -- STANDARDIZATION AND EFFICIENCY THROUGH CURRICULUM AND PEDAGOGY -- EDUCATION FOR COSMOPOLITANISM AND WORLD CITIZENSHIP -- CRITICAL EDUCATION OF IMAGINATIONS, SPIRITUALTIES, AND EPISTEMOLOGIES -- CONCLUSION -- REFERENCES -- 10. COMMON CORE AND PARCC: The Story Behind America's Standardized Assessment Movement -- INTRODUCTION.

HISTORY -- Common Core State Standards -- Race to the Top Comprehensive Systems Competition -- Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) -- Achieve -- CONCERNS -- IMPLICATIONS -- CONCLUSION -- REFERENCES -- 11. INTERDISCIPLINARY AND INTEGRATIVE EDUCATION IN 21ST CENTURY AMERICA -- DEMOCRACY IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION -- AMERICAN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION: A HISTORY -- DEMOCRATIC VOCATIONAL EDUCATION: A SAMPLE OF PRACTICES -- If our youth is and continues to be educated correctly, all of our affairs will take a happy course, if it is not…the rest is better left unsaid. (Platon) -- AN ANALYSIS OF EDUCATIONAL OPTIONS -- INTERDISCIPLINARY AND INTEGRATIVE EDUCATION: A COST AND BENEFITS ANALYSIS -- CONCLUSION -- REFERENCES -- 12. CASE STUDY IN TRANSFORMING LIVES, CHANGING COMMUNITIES: From Philadelphia Mural Arts Program's Community-Based Art Education and Social Function to Community Action -- INTRODUCTION -- BACKGROUND: PHILADELPHIA MURAL ARTS PROGRAM -- RATIONALE -- COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND AWARENESS: MURAL "MAKING" AS A TOOL FOR YOUTH DEVELOPMENT -- HOW THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT INFLUENCES PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT -- IMPLICATIONS OF COMMUNITY-BASED ART EDUCATION -- CONCLUSION -- NOTES -- REFERENCES -- 13. SCHOOL AS A TOOL: Can Sustainable Healthy Schools and Environmental Literacy Be Achieved Through the Pedagogy of Context in Public K-12 Education? -- INTRODUCTION -- CONTEXTUAL FRAMEWORK -- SCHOOL AS A (TEACHING) TOOL -- FEDERAL GUIDANCE -- Overview -- RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS -- Classical High School: -- Nathan Bishop Middle School -- Providence Career and Technical Academy -- The Compass School -- GREEN RIBBON SCHOOL PILLARS -- SUMMARY -- STATE LEVEL INFRASTRUCTURE AND INCENTIVES -- COMMUNITY BASED ENVIRONMENTAL PEDAGOGY -DESIGN INNOVATION -- STUDENT BASED ENVIRONMENTAL PEDAGOGY- GREEN TEAMS INNOVATION.

APEIRON'S SCHOOL-BASED GREEN TEAM MODEL -- GILBERT STUART MIDDLE SCHOOL GREEN TEAM -- CONCLUSION -- AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES.