Lack of respect for teacher preparation programs is pervasive. Various education associations' recommendations have spawned three kinds of policy activity: state limitations on teacher preparation programs, alternative certification programs, and increased local school district authority for continuing teacher development and recertification.…

Progress conceived as an open-ended movement to establish the goodness and sanctity of life is a potent myth underlying schooling. This paper provides some historical background to contemporary beliefs in change and social amelioration and shows the limitations of the progress notion as applied to American educational philosophy. Includes 34…

Analyzes U.S. educational spending levels and sources, providing aggregate data for 50 states. Discusses spending disparities across districts and schools, using Schools and Staffing Survey data and highlighting California and Florida's spending disparities. Discusses how schools use available resources, based on research findings in Florida,…

School administrators are advised to welcome charter schools. Superintendents should incorporate charter schools into their overall strategy, be boosters, provide visibility and recognition, neutralize hostile allies, make central office staff available, establish contact persons, and expedite financial matters. If academic achievement fails to…

In 1988-89, six states (Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island) made a five-year commitment to RE:Learning, a school development project aimed at helping students use their minds well. The key to systemwide change is shifting state expectations and waiving government policies hindering reform. (MLH)

The 1980s reforms made many promises and provided few concrete results. Systematic coordination of teacher training with student needs is lacking; the SAT provides no incentives for studying a given curriculum; and outcome expectations and performance standards are low. This article advocates creating high-quality curriculum frameworks and…

Through a new curriculum model called World Class Education, Virginia hopes to encourage its schools to transform themselves voluntarily. The program is guided by six principles: focus on outcomes, school accountability, the assumption that all students can learn, the importance of collaboration and teamwork, the connectivity of learning, and the…

Ostensibly, state governing and coordinating boards have been established to reduce unwarranted duplication of effort and costly competition and to increase overall efficiency of higher education operations. As this study shows, there is some indication that these objectives have been achieved, but additional research is needed to develop clear…

In 1989, California launched a statewide child health initiative including components on nutrition, health education, physical education, health services, counseling and psychological services, school safety, health promotion for staff, and parent and community involvement. A sidebar explains what principals can do to improve children's nutrition…

Some educators believe that authentic, performance-based assessments can drive instructional improvement. The Kentucky Education Reform Act uses a measure-driven instructional approach (the Kentucky Instructional Results Information Program) that evaluates student portfolios in writing and mathematics, achievement on performance events, and scores…

The National Standards for the Arts are part of Goals 2000. The public must be made aware of why national visual arts standards are needed and how they relate to state art education frameworks, district curriculum guides, and lesson/unit plans. The goal of all arts education is to develop basic literacy in visual arts, music, theater, and dance.…

In 1995, the Broward County (Florida) Public Schools initiated a safe-school program. The first step was to ensure collection of accurate, consistent, and timely data. This article describes the district's revised data-collection and incident-reporting system, and documents the program's effectiveness in improving safety. (MLH)

California's "power struggle" will probably not be replicated in the other 23 states that have deregulated electricity, but costs are rising everywhere. The Environmental Protection Agency/Department of Energy's new Energy Star online rating system should help school officials measure their buildings' efficiency and remove barriers to…

Although the Ohio Supreme Court announced its unconstitutionality verdict 3 years ago, litigation and outcomes are incomplete. Due to legislative and referenda failures, implementation has reverted to the judiciary branch. An effective solution may be to address school-finance reform on a case-by-case basis. (Contains 35 references.) (MLH)

Rebuts Fenwick W. English's negative critique of the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium. None of the strategies (imaginative reading, academic sophistry, and jejune deconstructivism) suggested for analyzing the standards can be taken seriously. English misreads "continuous improvement" and makes several unfounded claims about…