The 1975 Arkansas teacher test results show that the state should finance additional poverty area programs and reexamine teacher requirements and inservice education. Poor and minority students tended to be taught by those demonstrating weakest test competencies, and student scores varied downward with teachers' increased failure rates. (CJH)

A study investigating the nature of superintendent and school board interactions and linkages found that school boards and superintendents share in the balance of power. It also confirmed that the community's politics affect school administration and correlate with the degree of the superintendent's leadership. Includes two tables. (MD)

Winchester's article, discussing the university and academic freedom, fails to recognize a number of important truths about postsecondary education in Alberta. Academics cannot act outside the political culture that sustains them, nor do all wisdom and all reason lie within the University of Alberta. (MT)

Five case histories from a recent National Institute of Education study of the principal selection process suggest merit and equity are of less concern than subtle, behind-the-scenes matters related to special circumstances. (Author/DCS)

Issues concerning the role of the humanities and humanistic education in public policy, social issues, and politics are discussed in the contexts of both More's "Utopia" and the contemporary political situation in the United States, emphasizing the importance of developing a humanistic approach to power. (MSE)

An issue of importance to educators deals with how textbooks are chosen and published. This topic is discussed as a part of a larger theoretical debate about cultural processes and products. (DF)

Shows teachers how to help students use letter writing as a constructive means of sending a personal message to political figures in Washington. (EL)

Disputes the case for educational reform based on discussions of developing productivity and citizenship in the populace. The author theorizes that the degradation (or deskilling) of work and politics has undermined the ideological rationale for the social need of a general education. General education only makes sense if it is seen as an end in…

Reviews the history of the passage of the Hatch Amendment. Defines the regulations and examines testimony given during congressional hearings. Discusses the implications of the amendment. (MD)

Reviews trends, issues, and problems of administrative decentralization and education in developing nations, with reference to Papua New Guinea. Concludes that decentralization should not be seen as a panacea; policy-makers must sharpen understanding of types and levels of decentralization; success requires attention to training and implementation…

It is necessary to look at the political and symbolic side of schools when considering educational change. An argument for conceptual pluralism with a focus on understanding the culture of the organization is presented. (DF)

Presents an impasse resolution model for resolving teacher union negotiation impasses. It motivates citizens to participate in the bargaining process and provides an incentive to unions and administrators that makes the risks of failing to reach an agreement too substantial to disregard. (MD)

Recommends that education agencies adopt "intermediate implementation goals" for reform and assess progress toward these goals, in order to satisfy political pressure for visible improvements and thus retain public support. (MCG)

Italy's approach to political decision making, increasingly a process of trying to reach collective agreement without changing anything, has paralyzed higher education and is moving it out of the mainstream of European higher education. (MSE)

Cooperation in the European community has increased greatly in the years since the first cooperation agreement, and cooperation in education seems to be emerging with the Commission of the European Community, appointed in 1985. Such cooperation should be more firmly placed within the overall strategy for political and economic development than in…