Maintains that there soon will be a rush to review recent state and national efforts to establish curriculum standards. Describes three nightmares and three possibilities for substantive change. Discusses the role of the National Council for the Social Studies in the standards development movement. (CFR)

Under Secretary of State Thomas Johnston's leadership, the Council considered seven wide-ranging issues in education and produced a series of exemplary reports directed at reforms capable of speedy translation into practice. In the post-war period, the Council lost its influence and the Scottish Education Department returned to its traditional…

Reviews author James A. Michener's role in the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and contends that his 1939 predictions for social studies should be assessed in present-day context. Concludes that the history of social studies fails to support Michener's optimistic appraisal of its future. (CFR)

In Latin American education systems the inspectorate is an administrative level linking the central national educational administration to the local operations level. Traditionally the inspector's function has been to enforce fulfillment of pedagogical and administrative norms at the local level and to transmit pertinent information on achievement…

Describes the origins, development, and products of the slow- learner social studies curriculum development project at Carnegie-Mellon University (Pennsylvania) in the late 1960s. Maintains that this project represented the last wave of curriculum projects to emerge from the national reform efforts following Sputnik. (CFR)

Analyzes interviews with primary school practitioners about the implementation of the English/Welsh National Curriculum. Finds long-term trends are influenced by a conflict between shortage of time and demands of good practices. Discusses changes from child-focused to standard curriculum, from local to standard assessment, and similar issues. (CFR)

Discusses the transition to a postbinary higher education system in Australia and the United Kingdom. Contends that, in Australia, the new direction was motivated by official concerns that universities be made more accessible to government priorities. Maintains that the Australian approach ignored a canon for diversity in higher education. (CFR)

This report on current research at Sweden's University of Linkoping on the dynamics of technical progress, social change, and continuous educational reform focuses on the four major sub-studies that, with a number of more limited surveys, make up the project on Technology and Science in School and Society: Education, Training, Subsequent Training.…

Describes the Microelectronics Education Programme (MEP), a plan developed to help British secondary school students learn about microcomputers and the role of technology in society, and its successor, the Microelectronics Support Unit (MESU). Highlights include curriculum development, teacher training, computer assisted instruction and the…

Reports on the responses of headteachers and teachers in 570 primary schools in England and Wales to the introduction of the national curriculum in art. Finds that a significant majority of the respondents welcomed the national curriculum. (CFR)

Between 1986 and 1993 Australia developed a national curriculum framework of statements and profiles in eight learning areas. These areas were (1) English, (2) mathematics, (3) science, (4) studies of society and the environment, (5) arts, (6) health and physical education, (7) technology, and (8) languages other than English. This development…

Examines the British government's goal of introducing criterion-referenced, formative student evaluation in primary schools. Reports on a case study in which the reliability of a Standard Assessment Task was examined in three second-grade classrooms. Questions whether or not the decision to drop the task from the test was correct. (CFR)

Explains a theoretical framework for interpreting educational policy-making and, on the basis of that framework, identifies educational policy makers and policy changes in Hungary in the 1960s and 1970s. Tests the theory by examining controversies about secondary education and the structure of the educational system. (JHZ)

Discusses the organizational development of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) during the years 1982-1995. Describes the effort to establish national social studies standards in response to the national Goals 2000 movement. Describes the reorganization of the NCSS committee structure and central office staff. (CFR)

Twelve papers were presented at a 1980 International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) workshop on the generalization of educational innovations from the local to the national level. Six of these papers are published in this report, along with a substantial bibliography and an introductory chapter summarizing the papers and describing the…