Microsoft Word - Editorial Introduction.docx © 2015 Current Issues in Comparative Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Current Issues in Comparative Education 17(1), 3-4. Editorial Introduction Analyzing Social Movement Actions and Outcomes Sandra Sirota Teachers College, Columbia University As demonstrated by the diverse articles in this issue of Current Issues in Comparative Education (CICE), education-related social movements can be found in almost every aspect of education. In addition to movements advocating for equity and justice in and across schools, schools themselves are becoming places where the tactics of social movements are also learned—e.g. human rights courses and service-learning projects create opportunities for political engagement and advocacy among students. The articles in this issue explore the roles of various actors in social movements as well as how activism and advocacy are learned (or not) in schools. They explore issues that challenge the influence government may have on autonomous educational institutions, advocate for more inclusive practices such as dual language, promote equity in education for students globally, critique a human rights education course in the context of the larger human rights movement, and analyze the changing role of students in political activism. In “Dual Language as a Social Movement: Putting Languages on a Level Playing Field,” Regina Cortina, Carmina Makar, and Mary Faith Mount-Cors explore the dual language social movement in the United States. Focusing on the Latino population in New York City, they demonstrate that the movement goes beyond simply advocating for dual language as a practice. They highlight community involvement and a willingness of schools to continually adapt strategies to make improvements to dual language classrooms in order for schools to be successful in providing equitable access to instruction and education. In “Brokerage, Political Opportunity, and Protest in Venezuelan Higher Education Reform,” Eric Storm analyzes the activism of Venezuela’s autonomous universities in opposing two laws introduced by the government that would strip them of some of their authority. Storm explores the possible reasons for the different outcomes of the resistance to implementation of the laws; the Organic Education Law was enacted, but the University Education Law was not. This was due, in part, to stronger opposition to the University Education Law. Alison Victoria Shepherd discusses the social movement led by teachers’ unions in Oaxaca, Mexico in “Government versus Teachers: The Challenges of Educational Progress in Oaxaca, Mexico”. She calls attention to the negative effects of the movement’s tactics, such as teacher strikes, on the educational needs of the students. While she highlights the students’ grievances regarding their missed days of schooling, she emphasizes that the government’s attempts to suppress activism by the teachers are not the appropriate response. Nica Froman analyzes a human rights course in a high school in New York City, as part of the larger human rights movement. In “Human Rights Education and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme,” she suggests that while the course does contain some essential elements of human rights education, it does not sufficiently promote education through and for human rights. Gianna Maita’s article focuses on student activism at the Universidad Centroamericana in Nicaragua. In “Student Engagement in Social Justice at the Universidad Centroamericana,” Maita finds that the students, at present, are much less politically active in comparison to their Sandra Sirota 4 Current Issues in Comparative Education   predecessors during the Sandinista Revolution. While still civically engaged, this engagement comes in new forms such as service learning and community-based research. In “Does Watching Help? In Search of the Theory of Change for Education Monitoring,” David Post examines the broad education social movement of Education for All (EFA), specifically seeking to understand whether monitoring of EFA’s goals impacts the success of states in meeting these goals. He presents the monitoring of human rights treaties as an example, discussing whether the constructivist tactics of “persuasion and capacity building” or the neoliberal approaches of “sanctions and incentives” have been influential in encouraging states to fulfill obligations of human rights treaties, and of EFA, highlighting the link between the two. This issue calls our attention to the multiplicity of inequities in education in diverse contexts as well as the variety of methods of political engagement and advocacy for social change. The actors—students, teachers, university administrators, and education advocates—are all working for justice and equity in education, and, at times, learning about justice and equity through education. Sandra Sirota is a doctoral fellow in International and Comparative Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and the managing editor of Current Issues in Comparative Education. Email: sls2218@tc.columbia.edu; for CICE business please contact cice@tc.columbia.edu.