Offering a range of studies on the intersections of curriculum politics, policy, and/or practice, this book addresses the following questions: Who decides what is taught in K-12 schools? On what basis? What actually happens in classroom practice? What do students have opportunities to learn? Who benefits from these decisions and practices? It includes case studies that span school levels, subject areas, and national boundaries, thus enriching the possibilities for cross-case analysis, interpretation, and insight.

Curriculum dynamics are revealed in cases ranging from the macro -- as in the case from South Africa -- to the micro -- as in the case of U.S. special education placement. Instances of curriculum politics, policy, and/or practice are brought to life and situated in their contemporary and historical contexts with particular attention to questions of knowledge control and distribution of benefits.

Catherine Cornbleth is Professor of Education at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. She is the editor of Invitation to Research in Social Education, author of Curriculum in Context, and coauthor of The Great Speckled Bird: Multicultural Politics and Educational Policymaking.