Argues that high-stakes primary grade testing increases pressure on low-achieving schools to improve test performance and increases chances that low achieving children will be retained in grade or classified as handicapped. It is suggested that current practices be modified to eliminate motives to engage in such placement practices. (SLD)

Explores the concept of culture as a factor in the well-being of children. Holding students accountable for their behavior, holding schools accountable for activities and achievements of students, and inducing parents to support their children in school require a cultural change in how we look at schooling. (SLD)

Examines the legal, historical, and pervasive underrepresentation of women in educational administration, paying particular attention to women in urban settings. A profile of female administrators in urban areas is presented, with emphasis on job-satisfaction factors. Implications for the law, policy, and practices to redress this inequality are…

Relates the experience of a college professor who spent two months as a student teacher in an eighth-grade language arts classroom in an urban public school. Discusses middle school teaching verses college teaching, coming to know the students, discipline, student testing, accountability, teaching writing, the failure of teacher-training programs,…

An ethnically diverse elementary school committed to coteaching, narrative assessments, and a bias-free ambience performed poorly on 1996 statewide standardized assessments. Initially stymied by a new depersonalized district report card, teachers developed strategic compromises that accommodated the superintendent's bureaucratic directives and…

Proposes an index of school performance to assess progress in meeting goals of academic achievement, equity of educational outcomes, citizenship, social ethics, and health. Details relative weights: core academic outcomes, 40 percent; citizenship, health, teamwork, and social ethics, 25 percent; school completion, teacher qualifications, and…

Western countries' energetic reform efforts over the past decade are having insufficient effects on student achievement. School improvement literature suggests that policy makers focus on classroom practice, develop varied curriculum and teaching programs, consider reform context and staff development, build capacity, and improve research and…

Describes a study at an Israeli high school that investigated changes in the principal's role as the result of the introduction of a school management information system (SMIS). Discusses information handling and flow, interrelations with teachers, accountability, instruction evaluation, supervision, feedback, frequency of meetings, and shared…

Significant political and sociological changes have occurred in Spain in the last two decades which have considerably affected higher education. Currently, Spain's higher education has to cope with new challenges in order to place the system at a desired level of quality. The main changes that have occurred and the current challenges in Spain's…

Addresses the political and policy environment that has shaped the educational agenda for rising U.S. state accountability systems, highlighting these policies' effects on the limited-English-proficient learner. The hope for language-minority students lies in pressures on school officials to narrow the white/minority achievement gap. (Contains 64…

A study investigated the views of 81 teachers, administrators, and assessment personnel about issues stemming from the participation of students with disabilities in large-scale assessments. Findings indicate local personnel are giving increasingly careful consideration to appropriateness of curriculum choices, assessment options that match…

Neoliberalism claims that privatization, marketization, uniform standards, and accountability--some important dynamics surrounding globalization in education--increase choices and quality in education. However, numerous studies show that the market has consistently devalued alternatives; increased the power of dominant models; and exacerbated…

The purpose of implementing an assessment and accountability program in an urban school district is to improve student learning of worthwhile content. Current levels of achievement in most U.S. urban districts are unacceptably low. Average achievement test results conceal the fact that achievement levels of students of color are substantially…

There is concern that now, as state and federal governments are increasing school accountability requirements and relying on school administrators to promote improvement, schools and districts will not be able to attract and retain enough qualified people to fill these positions. This report develops a conceptual structure for understanding the…

This article chronicles the evolution of legislation for Texas open-enrollment charter schools to their implementation by demonstrating how these schools have (or have not) used their freedom from state-mandated requirements to develop innovative learning environments as well as to bring innovative curricula into the classroom. The investigative…