When parents neglect their children's moral education and community influences are negative, schools need to form partnerships and work for change. This article reviews problems encountered when schools attempt to inculcate or clarify moral values and summarizes various authors' opinions on the subject. (MLH)

In 1982, the Baltimore County (Maryland) Public Schools began a study of values education and ethical behavior. A countywide task force decided to incorporate values based on the Constitution and Bill of Rights into the entire school experience. This article attributes the project's success to six key elements, including widespread community…

Guided by First Amendment principles, Americans must agree on a shared civic framework within which to negotiate our deepest differences. A painful first step is acknowledging public education's failure to find a constitutionally permissable, educationally sound role for religion in the schools. This situation has helped convince religious…

Controversy over a proposed outcome-based-education package in Pennsylvania forced school reformers to eliminate explicit values instruction from the curriculum. Although respect and responsibility were agreed-upon moral values, tolerance was not. Proponents erred by failing to publicize and promote positive aspects of the reform, underestimating…

Describes the difficult choice Americans are facing-whether to adapt to necessary changes, to retreat from progress and development or to degenerate into a battleground of protest and conflict. Analyzes the reasons that precipitated this situation and possible solutions. (RK)

By studying Mexican-American families, the author learned that Latinos have a comprehensive, inclusive conception of educating children. "Bien Educado" connotes a sense of being well-bred, mannerly, clean, respectful, responsible, loved, and loving. Parental involvement in preschool may increase Latino parents' confidence in actively…

Assesses the progress made in recent years toward integrating human and material resources that reflect diverse racial and cultural values into the schools. Focuses in turn on instructional staff, testing materials, parent-community participation, and instructional materials and concludes that while progress has been made, much remains to be done.…

Oregon's statewide social-studies assessment (a randomized, multiple-choice maze) is part of a "democratic" national standards movement that threatens good teaching and multicultural studies. If multiculturalism's key goal is accounting for historical influences on current social realities, then Oregon's standards and tests earn a…

Collectivism, stressing family members' interdependence, is common to Latino cultures. In contrast, schools foster independence and individual achievement. To help teachers understand assumptions underlying these different values, the authors developed the "Bridging Cultures Project" as a research-based professional-development program.…

An unnatural, selective school crisis envelopes the poor, the cities, and Latino and African American communities. Structures of privilege and oppression apparent in the larger society are mirrored in schools. The perspectives of principal Deborah Meier, novelist Toni Morrison, and poet Adrienne Rich lend credence to empowerment and…