Contents Section I: Conditions for Educational Opportunities *Schooling, Achievement, and Mobility, Aaron M. Pallas *Tracking and Detracking Practices: Relevance for Learning, Maureen T. Hallinan *Parental Ties to the School and Community and Mathematics Achievement, Chandra Muller *Reading Reality More Carefully Than Books: A Structural Approach to Race and Class Differences in Adolescent Educational Performance, Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, Sumie Okazaki, Dunchun Zheng *Dropouts: Definitions, Causes, Consequences and Remedies, Gary Natriello *Section II: Changing Definitions of Education *Mapping Knowledge Perspectives in Studies of Educational Change, Rolland G. Paulston *Expanding Definitions of Learning and Teaching: Notes from the MI Underground, Mindy Kornhaber and Mara Krechevsky *Thinking Like a Fish: The Implications of the Image of School Community for Connections Between Parents and Schools, Mary Erina Driscoll *Neighborhoods and Corporations: Community Influence on Education Reform, Kathryn Borman and Debra A. Martinson with Louis Castenell, Karen Gallagher and Sally Kilgore *Schools Must Do More For Children-Child Advocacy as an Educational Responsibility, Judith H. Cohen *Section III: Learning and Assessment *The Context of Cultural Inventions: Learning and Curriculum, Ivor F. Goodson *The Politics of a National Curriculum, Michael W. Apple *The Role of Standards and Assessments in a National Model of Reform, David Stevenson *High School Curriculum Differentiation and Postsecondary Outcomes, Thomas B. Hoffer Section IV: New Strategies for Solving Educational Problems *Policy, Knowledge and Power: Some Issues for the Study of Educational Reform, Thomas S. Popkewitz *Can the Big-City School System be Governed, Kenneth K. Wong *Administrative Leadership and the Crisis in the Study of Educational Administration: Technical Rationality and Its Aftermath, James G. and Hanne B. Mawhinney with the assistance of Jerald Paquette *Privatization: Integrating Private Services in Public Schools, Ellen B. Goldring and Anna V. Shaw Sullivan *Why School Choice? A Question of Values, Peter Cookson and Barbara Schneider Special Features *wide coverage of important topics in education policy at both federal and local levels *section introductions give succinct views of the significance of each essay