“角逐卓越”:美国奥巴马政府中小学教育改革新动向

美国的奥巴马总统在2009年提出了"角逐卓越"计划,以竞赛的方式评定各州的基础教育改革计划,并以此来分配改革基金,以期在全国范围内促进教育质量的提升。2010年的首次实施取得了预期的效果,极大地促进了各州在竞争机制下创新改革教育的积极性,并在保持教育分权的基础上有效地引导了各州教育的发展方向,但同时也存在着各州间实际差异考虑不足的问题。     

Cases of Censorship in Public Libraries: Loudoun County,VA

ABSTRACT

In 1998, a group of adult library patrons and individuals in Loudoun County, Virginia, brought a suit against library trustees, board members, and the director of the county’s public library, claiming that the library’s use of Internet blocking software was an infringement on their First Amendment rights, leading to the federal court case Mainstream Loudoun v. Board of Trustees of the Loudoun County Library (1998). Using an in-depth case study approach and going beyond a review of the court documents, the author uses a series of qualitative interviews with individuals connected to the court case to gather more in-depth information regarding events surrounding this case of censorship in public libraries and investigate the phenomenon of librarians acting as censors themselves.     

An Exploration of “Hyper-Local” Community-University Engagement in the Development of Smart Cities

The use of big data in smart cities poses new questions about higher education and community-university engagement practices in addressing longstanding social and economic exclusion in urban communities. Drawing on transdisciplinary ideas in higher education, cultural theory, and science and technology studies, primary concerns in the era of big data are considered with current conceptualizations of higher education engagement and anchor institution purposes. Tensions in the narratives of civic engagement and democratic practice for community well-being are juxtaposed with tensions in the smart citizen narrative implied by the idealized smart city design. A new framing of community-university relations under what I term “hyper-local” engagement is suggested for more justice-oriented and democratic practices when universities interact with their surrounding communities given the impending and sweeping changes occurring from the use of big data in social policy.