Scholarly analysis in the sociology of education has burgeoned in recent decades. Frontiers in Sociology of Education aims to provide a roadmap for sociologists and other social scientists as they set bold new directions for future research on schools.  In Part 1 of this forward-looking volume, the authors present cutting-edge research to set  new guidelines for the sociological analysis of schools. In Part 2, notable social scientists, historians, administrators and educators provide a wide-ranging array of perspectives on contemporary education to insure that scholars make creative and broadly informed contributions to the sociological analysis of schools.

The contributors to this volume examine events currently influencing education including: globalization, expansion of educational access, the changing significance of religion, new family structures, and curriculum reform.  Frontiers in Sociology of Education offers an innovative collection of research and ideas aimed at inspiring new analyses of schools better linked to changing societal conditions.

Maureen T. Hallinan is William P. and Hazel B. White Professor of Sociology in the Center for Research on Educational Opportunity, Institute for Educational Initiatives, at the University of Notre Dame. Her research interests include the effects of the formal and informal organization of schools on student's cognitive and social development. She presently is examining sector effects on student achievement. With over 120 articles in professional journals, Professor Hallinan is the author or editor of eight books and has chapters in several edited volumes. She is former editor of Sociology of Education, and is past president of the American Sociological Association and the Sociological Research Association and a vice president of the National Academy of Education. She is the recipient of the Willard Waller Award from the American Sociological Association, Notre Dame's Presidential Award and the Award for Excellence in Research on Catholic Education.