State mandates in Kentucky, Oregon, Mississippi, and Tennessee have raised questions concerning multiage grouping's viability. Some educators are implementing multiage classrooms and schools with insufficient forethought, planning, and stakeholder participation. A recent study underlines the importance of teacher readiness, parental involvement,…

Widespread educational reform will occur only if encouraged by a coherent policy environment that explicitly supports fundamental change and unleashes the imagination and energy of students, teachers, parents, and community leaders. To prepare students well for the 21st century, our education system requires an interdisciplinary environment, a…

Major programatic reforms or significant changes in roles and relationships within the educational system are unlikely to emerge given the lack of attention to the actors, process of implementation, and underlying values of the reform movement. The article's focus is state-level reform initiatives. (IAH)

Beginning with a capsule history of United States education reform efforts and an examination of the American "myth" of the apolitical nature of education, this paper explores the political bases of education policy. Reviewing the literature on educational politics with a particular concern for recent curriculum reform efforts at the state level,…