This course explores the potential impact of modern technologies on the school reforms debate. The first part of the course provides an overview of the current state of the school reform debate and reviews the ideas in the progressive school reform movement, as well as examining the new public charter school in Cambridge as a case study. The second part of the course requires critical study of research projects that hold promise as inspirations and guidelines for concrete multidisciplinary activities and curriculum for progressive charter schools. The course concludes with a discussion of the challenges in scaling the successful innovations in school reform to new contexts.

U.S. History is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of most introductory courses. The text provides a balanced approach to U.S. history, considering the people, events, and ideas that have shaped the United States from both the top down (politics, economics, diplomacy) and bottom up (eyewitness accounts, lived experience). U.S. History covers key forces that form the American experience, with particular attention to issues of race, class, and gender.Senior Contributing AuthorsP. Scott Corbett, Ventura CollegeVolker Janssen, California State University, FullertonJohn M. Lund, Keene State CollegeTodd Pfannestiel, Clarion UniversityPaul Vickery, Oral Roberts UniversitySylvie Waskiewicz

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Discuss the Bush administration’s economic theories and tax policies, and their effects on the American economy
Explain how the federal government attempted to improve the American public education system
Describe the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina
Identify the causes of the Great Recession of 2008 and its effect on the average citizen