Argues from a modified libertarian position that diversity and choice in school education are desirable unless some convincing argument and evidence can be shown that the costs greatly outweigh the benefits and any costs incurred cannot be reduced or overcome by limited state intervention. (MJP)

Discusses the difficulties in using cost-benefit analysis in education, examines in detail some of the documents supporting the modified libertarian position, and traces the development of policy on school choice. Documents the various new forms of selection that accompany increased choice and considers problems of social segregation. (MJP)

Discusses the contentious relationship between educators within the former East Germany and their West German cohorts following reunification. The problems have stemmed from conflicting ideologies and traditions (Marxist versus Christian Democrat and Social Democrat) as well as differences concerning school organization and educational objectives.…

Discusses the historical role of the zemstvos and their current contribution to educational efforts in Russia. Zemstvos are local assemblies that have traditionally addressed municipal, health care, and education concerns in the smaller cities and countryside. Criticizes current efforts for being disjointed, fragmented, and lacking a cohesive…

Discusses the indebtedness of German pedagogical thinking to the U. S. progressive education movement. Specifically examines the "New Educational Fellowship," a socialist and pacifist organization founded in 1925 in Heidelberg (Germany) and joined in 1932 by U.S. progressive educators. Profiles several schools that institutionalized this…

Explores British and American policy analysts' disparate perceptions about utility of major educational reforms (school-based management, school choice, and national standards). The Tories got carried away with their ideological agenda and have alienated teachers and the public. American educators are debating centralization/decentralization, but…

In an interview, Lloyd Hackney, Chairman of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), responds to questions about black higher education and the role of HBCUs, including HBCUs' public image, the effects of Dr. Hackney's own educational experience on his views, the Clinton Administration's actions,…

Argues that new patterns of trade and production combined with an emphasis on a knowledge-based economy/society make it imperative that Canada upgrade its educational system. Specifically notes that several growing and dominant industries (microelectronics, biotechnology, telecommunications) require a high-tech skilled labor force. (MJP)

A study examined whether federal New Deal policy goals matched local policy outcomes in Mississippi, Georgia, and North Carolina. Data from 337 counties indicate that policy outcomes matched goals in that women's access to vocational training remained narrowly constrained. Additional funds mostly benefitted men's programs. Contrary to…

This paper presents results from a 3-year longitudinal case study of 10 racially and socioeconomically mixed secondary schools participating in detracking reform. It explores how broadly held conceptions of intelligence intervene in efforts to detrack schools and examines new constructions of intelligence and how they fit into school detracking.…

State higher education policy-making processes can evoke or avoid public consideration of underlying tensions in postsecondary education. A study of imposition of out-of-state enrollment limits at the University of North Carolina, and its effects on the Chapel Hill campus, suggests contemporary dynamics of state policy-making can suppress…

A Scottish council commissioned a study to inform development of policy concerning ability grouping, timetabling, and other practices related to the transition from primary to secondary schooling. Although the researchers became aware that the council expected a report supportive of their policies, the data supported the view that the key to…

The variety of ways in which agencies of the state influence the British university curriculum, and in some cases extra-curricular activity, is examined. These sources of influence include expansion, structural changes resulting from retrenchment, promotion of market values, intervention in professional education, quality control, and research…

Maintains that working class elementary schools in England enjoyed popular support due to their subordination to the needs of wartime national efficiency. Argues that this led directly to a postwar increase in vocational education. Disputes the claim that the 1918 Educational Act produced no discernible results. (MJP)

Observes that, although textbook reform in occupied Japan originally supported democratic principles of openness and competition, it later became a mechanism for anticommunist censorship. Maintains that interpretations of Japan's military conduct remain highly politicized and controversial. (MJP)