The author is a long-time advocate inside the Labour Party for ending selective education and the 11-plus. She outlines how Labour Party frontbenchers routinely ignore or deflect calls from Party members to stand up for comprehensive education in both word and deed. As UKIP, whose policy is to extend selective education more widely, rises in the…

For many English language learners, the endgame isn't passing state exams--it's attending and graduating from college. Yet schools often focus on a lower target: proficiency. To support the transition of English language learners to postsecondary success, schools should create formal transition plans, provide differentiated guidance, focus on…

During the 2008-2009 school year, faculty members at New Fairfield (CT) Middle School examined relevance and student engagement in relation to student achievement. Subtle clues indicated that students were not fully engaged in their learning: many students did not relate their classroom experiences to their personal reality or to their vision of…

Author talks to Torsten Husen, one of the architects of Sweden's comprehensive system, about his current ideas on reforming schools. (Editor/RK)

The similarities among comprehensive high schools in the United States promote equity and social integration rather than educational excellence. Increased specialization would encourage competition for students and provide schools with a sense of mission, two factors critical to developing strong faculties committed to improving education. (PGD)

The comprehensive university, or "Gesamthochschule" described in this article is an attempt in Germany to solve the crisis of higher education caused by massive secondary education and lack of mobility within the tertiary level of education. (JH)

In both Sweden and Ontario the attempt to create a comprehensive school system, during the 1960s especially at the secondary level, was the occasion for disputes between the governments and their respective opponents. Asks some relevant questions in studying the movement toward comprehensivization. (Author/RK)

On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Swedish comprehensive education, it is concluded that the system has attained some of its social and academic aims fully and approached attainment of others. Areas for further improvement include increased local governance, more clearly articulated goals, and curriculum development. (MSE)

Chris Barbic, a Teach For America corps member, started Project Youth Engaged in Service (YES) in 1995. He wanted to offer his former elementary-school students an alternative to the low-performing middle schools they otherwise would attend. Since then Barbic has led a high-energy team of educators in refining a comprehensive approach to helping…

The first in a series of annual interim reports on the federally funded Experimental Schools (ES) program, this report describes the first 2 years of a 6-year research program designed to promote locally-initiated comprehensive educational change dependent upon community participation, with provision for systematic documentation and evaluation.…

This newsletter summarizes the work of a committee, set up by the Ministry of Education, which sought to define the objectives and the methods of student evaluation and to draw up a proposal for reforming and standardizing student evaluation in the comprehensive and the secondary school. Deficiencies of current methods of student evaluation are…

The panel provides an overview of the factors most influential in shaping the American high school as it exists today and recommends (1) replacing the comprehensive high school and providing comprehensive education; (2) establishing participatory education involving adolescents and other interested adults in the community; (3) establishing small,…

Describes the integrated comprehensive school (ICS) in Germany, where, as of 1988, 90 percent of all students attended traditional schools. Traces the history of comprehensive schools in Germany and examines their philosophy and objectives. States comprehensive schooling cannot create equal social entitlements but can encourage all students to…