The editors of this book employ social, cognitive, linguistic, and political theoretical innovations to develop a new conception of critical thinking. They examine how such a construct might be taught in a variety of social settings and disciplines. Using a host of previously neglected perspectives--sociocognition, issues of political economy, complexity theory, and critical theoretical notions of epistemology and power theory--the editors and authors present a conceptually sophisticated yet accessible compendium on critical thinking. The introduction guides readers through the reconceptualization process. Specific entries focus on particular dimensions of the challenges to old-style critical thinking. In this context, readers can choose entries that discuss various means of engaging students in the "critical complex perspective" of critical thinking. The encyclopedia is aware of both theoretical concerns and the everyday realities of schooling in the 21st century. As such, it rounded in a respectful view of teachers that assumes they are capable of levels of expertise unacknowledged by many contemporary articulations of school reform. The educational, cognitive, and professional vision developed in the encyclopedia offers a profound alternative to the top-down impositional models now sweeping the nation's school districts.

Explore this controversial approach to education, its practical applications, successes, and failures in a straightforward guide that covers every facet of the issue, from for-profit schools to outsourcing of school management to vouchers. The book covers everything from school vouchers to little-known market-based educational reforms like for-profit management of public schools, commercialism in the classroom, philanthropic tuition sponsorships, faith-based charities, educational tax credits, corporate curriculum, and advertising as well as exclusive agreements between companies and schools. It includes case studies of two well-established voucher systems: the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program and the private national voucher policy in Chile, a program started in l973. The book also includes a chronology, directories, bibliographies, and other reference content. Coverage of private curriculum efforts, outsourcing, the role of teacher unions, and the emergence of for-profit schools Provides a directory of organizations, associations, and government agencies involved with private choice, vouchers, and market-based educational reforms