Using a system that monitors just the process of education does not guarantee positive student outcomes. What education needs is a consistent set of accountability procedures for all students. As educators take steps toward a new and inclusive accountability system, they need to look at: (1) possible alternative approaches to accountability; (2)…

This paper focuses on physical education for students in preschool (3 to 5 years) and primary grades K-2 (5 to 7 years). It describes developmentally appropriate practices as a set of indicators for high quality play and motor skills programs for all children, including children with special needs. The paper also describes and recommends an…

This curriculum unit presents an overview of privacy as a concept intrinsic to the functioning of a democratic society. The unit requires students to examine the concept of privacy, some differences among individuals and cultures in relation to it, its benefits and costs, and its proper scope and limits. The curriculum is organized around topical…

This curriculum is designed to help students understand and apply basic principles and considerations useful in examining issues of justice so they can determine for themselves what would be just in a particular situation. From such activities, students should gain an increased awareness of the importance of justice in their own lives and its…

This report describes the results of an assessment of social studies for grades 4, 8, and 10 of English language schools in Manitoba. Students in each grade were given a written test, the results of which are reported here. The results of a survey of teachers of each grade also are reported. Additionally, interviews with grade four teachers and an…

This paper on identifying education outcomes for students with disabilities proposes a framework for applying an outcome-based approach throughout the education system, by looking at the needs of the three major levels of the system (local, state, and national); defining different uses for the term "outcome" in order to achieve consensus…

The Maryland curricular framework describes the relationships that exist among the educational goals and subgoals for art, dance, music, and theater. Contemporary trends in the content areas are incorporated and the guide provides direction for a comprehensive approach to fine arts education. Organized into four major sections, the first section…

A major reason for the paucity of usable data on the contributions and effectiveness of community colleges is that the definitions on which the data are based are imprecise. Colleges' contributions might be better understood if their functions were reconceptualized. The collegiate dimension of community colleges (i.e, that portion of the…

Surveys were mailed to matched samples of matriculated (enrolled in a specific curriculum) and non-matriculated (special) students in order that differences in educational goals between these types of students could be examined. Responses were obtained from 74% of those surveyed. Subsequent data analysis indicated: (1) matriculated students were…

This study was designed to examine the relationship between an adolescent's educational plans as reported by the adolescent himself and his mother's educational expectations for him as reported by her. The data were obtained in a previous study, a survey including a multistage, cluster sample of some 7,000 cases representing 13,484,000 public and…

The Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) was asked to examine the demands of the workplace and determine whether young people are capable of meeting these demands. Six panels were established to examine all manners of jobs from manufacturing to government employment and conduct in-depth interviews with workers in a wide…

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…

This report presents the results from a seven-month study of successful schools in California performed by the American Institutes for Research (AIR). It explored some of the concepts underlying the "successful schools" approach to defining education adequacy and considered their implications for analyzing educational adequacy in…

Contemporary philosophical and political theories place high hopes on the concept of deliberative democracy. Within educational research, there seems to be widespread agreement that if students are to be educated for deliberative democracy, actual classroom deliberation constitutes an indispensable educational tool. From the standpoint of…

This case study examines the performances of 18 10th-grade students (age 15-16 years) in the process of performing problem-solving tasks in the physics and chemistry laboratory. The study focuses on different types of problems arising in the process of transferring responsibility to students in a context of teacher assistance to autonomous…