Great Speckled Bird: Multicultural Politics and Education Policymaking

The Great Speckled Bird may well ensure a deeper understanding of American diversity in the future.
—San Francisco Chronicle

The authors provide keen insights into the issues, values, and politics that guided the development and implementation of controversial multicultural social studies curriculums in California and New York....I highly recommend this book for teachers, administrators, curriculum specialists, supervisors, textbook committees, state education departments, legislators, preprofessional students, and citizens concerned about race and education in America. Don't miss this opportunity!
—Educational Leadership

...provides a deeply-textured discussion of the curriculum and textbook wars in large states with highly diverse populations....Cornbleth and Waugh present a clear insider's view of the political struggles involved in multicultural curriculum reform in California and New York. This book is an important contribution to the debates on multicultural curriculum and should lead to further discussion about the ramifications of imposing national teaching and curriculum standards. I would recommend this book as important reading for all conscientious citizens. It is of particular importance to teachers and teacher educators and would be important reading for all students preparing to teach in the K-12 schools.
—Multicultural Education

...deals with important issues in an informed manner, and should be read by anyone involved in or interested in social studies education.
—Social Education

The overall issues of race in America and the use of power in defining knowledge are important ones that Cornbleth and Waugh argue very well....As this book compellingly shows, the stands taken in California and New York, and the debates surrounding the construction of social studies curricula, go to the heart of the very different lived experiences, subsequentviewpoints, and political power of Americans on either side of the color line...
—Christine Sleeter
University of Wisconsin, Parkside

I like the approach taken by these authors. The comparison of cases backed by contextualizing data and consequences is very effective in illustrating alternative routes to policy making.
—Ursula Casanova
Arizona State University

A bold step in exposing the politics of curriculum....The Great Speckled Bird will give educational policy, leadership, and curriculum students and scholars an opportunity to grapple with the complexities of curriculum change and reform in schools.
—Gloria Ladson-Billings
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Opens a range of new perspectives on the meanings of multiculturalism in American schools today, and on the relation between what is understood to be multiculturalism and the conception of a national identity.
—Maxine Greene
Teachers College, New York City

A very important book about a very controversial topic. It provides a reasoned, theoretical basis for the discussion of multicultural curriculum and the politics of educational policymaking...
—Alan Singer
Hofstra University