Glimpses the literacy education practices of one third-grade Cuban teacher in a primary school in Havana. Speculates on relationships between Cuban educational practice and the Cuban socioeconomic system, including a historical analysis of Cuban literacy education since 1959. Finds high rote mastery of skills at the expense of creating a critical…

Examines links between educational research and the policy and planning process in Laos. Reviews social and economic conditions influencing Lao education. Describes the use and nonuse of research in educational policy and planning, focusing on decision making and outcomes in a Lao government/Asian Development Bank educational assessment. Suggests…

Addresses the Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. government and politics course at Jordan High School in Long Beach (California), an inner city school with a diverse student population. Describes the course and discusses its success and benefits. (CMK)

Kentucky's school-based decision-making councils now function in 66% of the state's schools. Since 1991-92, these schools have learned that their councils must represent their local constituencies, gain the support of local political structures, shun legalism, concentrate on substantive education issues, and develop a democratically based…

A model for evaluating the sustainability of educational reform involves examining the knowledge base, social and economic factors, underlying philosophy, and political aspects of the reform proposal; estimating the extensiveness and impact of the proposal on the educational system; and examining areas affected by reform such as curriculum and…

Addresses the issue of Title I student assessment for at-risk students and the possible funding ramifications if Title I schools reduce the frequency and coverage of their assessments. It argues that continued Congressional funding of Title I programs will be difficult if sufficient assessments cannot reveal positive impact. (GR)

After three bond issues failed in De Soto, Kansas, the new superintendent, Marilyn Layman, moved immediately to build a districtwide consensus. A year later, voters passed a $14.7 million bond issue to construct a new high school and middle school with additional high and middle schools planned for the future. (MLF)

The community of Crawfordsville (Indiana) debated for more than seven years over whether to renovate the existing high school, built in 1910, or construct a new building on a new site. Factors of cost, space availability, and energy efficiency entered into the decision in favor of a new facility. (MLF)

Discusses hurdles to new principals' success. Principals must respect school culture, including ghosts and heroes; realize that working relationships will change; and anticipate isolation and overwork. Meeting individual teachers, locating the power, keeping central administrators informed, listening and learning, finding mentors, and picking…

Describes an experiential learning strategy and field research project that was used as a means of transforming undergraduate students' gender understandings by engaging them in the research process from the development of hypotheses through the interpretation of data collected in field interviews. Discusses student reactions. (CMK)

Describes a web-based instructional tool known as "WWWBoard," or World Wide Web Board, that was used with films in a comparative class on Middle East politics. Discusses the advantages and disadvantages of WWWBoard and a survey of student reaction. Provides a sample discussion and other instructors' experiences. (CMK)

A study of 19 private schools in St. Petersburg, Russia, including ethnic, religious, and elite schools, found a precarious situation of legal contradictions about their status, dealings with corrupt bureaucrats, and financial instability. The current socioeconomic crisis will likely diminish their number and diversity. Private schools' survival…

Discusses two danger signs for writing across the curriculum (WAC) program survival, dealing with their cross-curricular structure, and their heavy dependence on just one person for their health and continuation. Outlines two cases from the history of writing instruction at the University of Michigan providing a precautionary tale for both kinds…

Comparative education should stop trying to figure out how to borrow educational systems from one culture and transplant them into another. Instead, it should focus on how educational systems can be described and explained, comparatively, in a way that captures the intersections of forces of history, social structures, and individuals' pedagogic…

Examines the vigorous dialectic occurring among intellectuals, religious leaders, and politicians trying to define the appropriate role of Islam in Egyptian education. Discusses the call for the Islamization of education in contemporary Egypt, aspects of Islamic law, the position of the state on religious education, and the influence of a small…