A pioneer in the field of widening participation was in Cambridge last week to give a seminar at Lucy Cavendish College.

While California has basic tracking system architecture in place to allow the state’s educators to closely follow the progress of students from kindergarten to post-secondary education, officials must overcome political and financial barriers, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.

Children from low-income families in the United States do not have the same access to qualified teachers as do wealthier students, according to a University of Missouri study. Compared to 46 countries, the United States had the fourth largest opportunity gap, the difference between students of high and low socioeconomic status in their access to qualified teachers.

The education world is under more scrutiny than ever before. Reports, political platforms, test result comparisons, and various articles in newspapers and magazines all criticize a field that just a generation or so ago was considered an unabashed American success.

A special issue of Public Finance Review, published by SAGE, examines those questions, addressing one critical dimension of the debates about educational quality and equity, namely, the role of teachers, focusing especially on the hiring and retention of qualified teachers – even in disadvantaged districts.