Intended for use by those who have direct responsibility for providing leadership in the area of English, this monograph provides a process for improving the English curriculum in a way that is true to the intellectual and emotional needs of students while meeting society's expectations for a practical curriculum. The monograph begins with a…

Alternative approaches to education can work well if they are based on common sense and sound research. Recent research findings are reported for alternative approaches to three areas: curriculum, testing and measurement, and instruction. (TE)

The symbolic function of curricular debate, as it is manifested in the minimum competency testing movement (MCT), is investigated. Curricular debate necessarily reflects the demands of the society in which it arises. The topics that are addressed spring from this milieu and the language in which issues are couched must be appropriate to it.…

Resulting from a project involving district, state, and federal educational agencies, the papers in this, the first of two volumes, are intended to provide information from research and practice that can help school districts in their efforts to make decisions about goals and methods of basic skills instruction. The topics of the papers in the…

The evolution of eight Tech Prep consortia since reauthorization of federal Tech Prep legislation in 1998 was examined in a 4-year longitudinal study. Cross-consortium changes were identified through field visits and personal interviews between 1998-2001 with a wide range of stakeholders, especially administrators, faculty, and students.…