In the last decade, the Office of Education has granted several billions of dollars to local educational agencies (LEAs) in an attempt to stimulate, and sometimes force, educational improvements. This paper was presented at a symposium considering experiences accumulated in a recent national study of federal change programs as they have (or have…

Today's need is for instituting in American schools an enlarged and improved program of youth education in the fundamentals of law and in the responsibilities of leadership in a free society. Curriculum should be revitalized to present the real meaning of citizenship. Partly due to the adult society's disrespect for law, adult hypocrisy, and lack…

"Educational Futuristics," a pilot instructional module for a foundations of education course, resulted in the compilation of these guidelines. The aim of educational futuristics noted in the introduction is to increase student awareness of trends in the environment and of the impact of choices in the future, as well as to equip students…

A well planned multicultural program can benefit every child within the school setting. A multicultural curriculum incorporates a systematic group of courses or sequence of subjects using text books, resource books, and other instructional tools that are appropriate and have no stereotyping and misconceptions. Instruction centers around the…

A series of eight articles discusses the perceptions of the school library held by students, teachers, and parents, and suggests several strategies to improve the services and image of the library. The areas discussed include public relations programs, services addressing current social issues, library material selection, and library teacher…

Five aspects of higher education policy (the impact of goals, the role of underlying assumptions, evaluation, group support and resistance, and environmental changes) are examined in light of specific strategic changes made in the higher education systems of Norway, Sweden, Britain, France, Italy, West Germany, and Poland. (MSE)

Described are the results of a four-year action research project that investigated the reasons for girls' underachievement in science and technology and tested teacher-developed change strategies. Boys participating continued to be much more interested in science than the girls. Changes in option choice behavior were very small for both sexes. (RM)

South African educational reforms in the 1980s are seen as the government's response to critics of apartheid and an attempt to win the hearts and minds of Blacks through apparent, but not necessarily real, restructuring of the racial division of labor and through limited technical training for Blacks. (MH)

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Where High Turnover Meets Low Performance: New Initiatives Target the Special Problems of Hard-to-Staff Schools (Alexander Russo); (2) Parents as Partners in School Reform:…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Architects for Change: National Association of Secondary School Principals Releases New Report on Reinventing High…

This report is based on a three-year study of the design of New York's Regional Network Strategy and its subsequent implementation activities, including the development of statewide professional development for members of the network involved in the state's strategy. The study is based on the idea that internal coherence--alignment and shared…

This report synthesizes the findings of four studies that focused on school districts as the center of focus for school-improvement efforts. The studies did not examine school systems that had been high performing for a long time; rather, they took their data from districts serving high percentages of students who typically struggle but were…

Advocating an early childhood education structure that is state-supported, accountable for high standards, sufficiently funded to include all children who need it and whose parents want it, and comparable to the systems of other high-achieving industrialized nations, this report provides baseline information about U.S. states' provision of early…

The outgrowth of a 1996 report on the impact of armed conflict on the well-being of children, and preparation for the 2000 International Conference on War-affected Children, this book examines progress made and obstacles encountered since 1996 in relieving the trauma of armed conflict. The stories recount family displacement, the rise of HIV/AIDS…

This document comprises the two 2001 issues of a UNESCO newsletter addressing topics related to adolescent well-being in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly reproductive and sexual health. Each issue contains news from the region on various initiatives related to adolescent health and education, as well as Web links and publications on the…