Examines the concepts of freedom and responsibility from several angles, separately, together and in relationship to other basics in the discipline of democracy. (ED)

Since the most salient facet of the political system is the Federal government, this study indexes political estrangement in terms of trust or cynicism toward the government in Washington. It employs national trend data rather than data restricted to a single point in time or a specific locale. (Author/AM)

Provides excerpts from a forthcoming book on how high school-level history textbooks deal with the development and value of political democracy. Criticisms focus on: (1) these texts' choice of topic (particularly their emphasis on the West), (2) their handling of the political ideas of Ancient Greece, and (3) their representation of the meanings…

Three popular views on the relationship of academic ability to educational access are examined: (1) that all students should receive an equal share of the educational resources, (2) that resources should be apportioned in inverse proportion to academic ability, and (3) that resources apportioned should be directly proportional to academic ability.…

This essay presents three claims: (1) that the educational ideas of Dewey and the pragmatists still have value; (2) that experimentalist ideas are the foundation of democratic school practices; and (3) that aspects of the new developments in educational practice require careful philosophic analysis. (MT)

Focuses on two issues in teacher education reform: (1) excellence and equity; and (2) content and pedagogy. Concludes that the United States needs teachers who foster democratic values and prepare students for effective citizenship. (BSR)

Provides historical perspective on moral education, discusses links between morality and religion, and recommends several actions to help develop morally mature individuals to ensure the existence of a just and caring society. Insets detail characteristics of morally mature persons and list members of the ASCD Panel of Moral Education. Includes 14…

In today's moral environment, teaching the young high moral standards requires cooperation between schools and families. This article describes four successful approaches: developing a school-community consensus about values, forming parent support groups, creating multifaceted parent participation opportunities, and writing parallel curricula for…

Suggests that a constitution for the third century needs no improvement in the 14th Amendment. All that is required is that its promises be honored and that we be vigilant, lest, by reason of the very evil that arose out of its long nullification, it should once more be undermined. (Author)

In "Critical Literacy" Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. challenges E. D. Hirsch's assumptions about culture and education. Calling for a broader and more democratic vision than Hirsch, Provenzo critiques Hirsch's legacy up through the current conservative educational agenda for education which, he argues, denies not only the United States'…

It's a real honor to be with you all today. You have dedicated your lives to advancing the American ideals of equality and opportunity--principles that for centuries have drawn millions of people to risk everything to come to this land. And there is no faster path to equal opportunity than a good education. It is the key to the American dream. And…

This paper explores a distributed leadership perspective on how leaders create contexts that build and support professional communities in schools. It is argued that professional community results from intentional coordination of social interaction among teachers through the design of structures in a situation of practice. School leaders put these…

Many educational practices are based upon philosophical ideas about what it means to be human, including particular subjectivities and identities such as the rational person, the autonomous individual, or the democratic citizen. This book asks what might happen to the ways in which we educate if we treat the question as to what it means to be…

Education reform based on technical and rational processes often short-circuits reform because it is uncontentious, abstract, and provides educators with no legitimate ways to question the marketplace values and policies that drive much contemporary school reform. The perspective referred to as "betterment" is an alternative reform that…

This report describes the Eisenhower Leadership Program, an approach to leadership learning that aims to educate students for democracy. Based on the premise that democracy at risk threatens the fabric of the national culture, the document presents five key elements considered essential for educating students to become democratic leaders. These…