Pamela J. Konkol is a professor of educational foundations, social policy, and research and the founding director of the Center for Policy Studies and Social Justice at Concordia University Chicago. She currently serves as an Executive Officer for the American Educational Studies Association. She holds a PhD in Policy Studies in Urban Education and an MEd in Curriculum Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a BS in Communication/Cultural Studies and Women's Studies from Northwestern University.

A 2018 AESA Critic's Choice Award WinnerA 2019 SPE Outstanding Book Award WinnerHow is it, this text asks, that given such good intentions among education professionals, things in schools can go so very wrong? The problem, Hinchey and Konkol posit, is that unspoken and misleading assumptions result in choices, decisions and policies with disastrous consequences for kids. They tease out those assumptions on the key issues of school goals, curriculum, education for citizenship, discipline, and school reform, inviting readers to think again, to question the taken-for-granted, in the hope of better aligning intentions and outcomes. This book is the perfect text for both undergraduate and graduate classrooms devoted to the study of public education. Questions at the end of each chapter point to ways for preservice and inservice teachers, as well as administrators and other education personnel, to advance their thinking about choices in their own contexts. In addition, suggested readings, websites and videos offer more food for thought.Perfect for coursessuch as: Social Foundations of Education, Political and Social Foundationsof Education, Foundations of American Education, Policy Issues in AmericanEducation, Political Issues in American Education, Educational Policy Studies, Foundations of Education, Foundations of Education Policy, Intro to CurriculumIssues/Policy, American Education Policy and Reform, Introduction to AmericanEducation, Introduction to Education Theory and Policy, Contemporary Issues inAmerican Education.