The education model in which a single teacher instructs a single classroom of students has been remarkably persistent, but teacher shortages, low morale, and poor teacher retention are signs that it's not working well for teachers. Ray Reutzel and Parker Fawson describe how Utah's Center for the School of the Future is seeking to redesign the…

Research supported by the Cooperative Research Program of the U.S. Office of Education.

Within the broad P-16 framework, the transition from high school to college has commanded the bulk of attention from policy makers, think tanks, foundations, and the research community in general. Immediate and long-term concerns about the skills of the American work force and global competitiveness fuel this focus. Significantly less attention…

President Bush and the nation's governors have proposed that by 2000, all children will leave grades 4, 8, and 12 with demonstrated competency in challenging subject matter and use of their minds. This article discusses the improvements needed in curriculum and testing, teachers and teaching, and school superstructures. Includes 39 references.…

Notes that there is no firm evidence pointing to an acceleration of technological change. (JF)

We are creating an educational meritocracy in which education and training are the only paths to success. More and better vocational education is needed to help people develop specific job skills and adapt to workplace changes, participate in management decisions, cooperate with one another, and develop a flexible, entrepreneurial outlook.…

Young adults without a college education and their families are suffering declining economic status and diminished opportunities. Real incomes of males aged 20-24 years fell 25 percent between 1973 and 1986. Inspired by time-tested alternative paths to work and learning recommended by Howard Gardner, the Grant Commission on Work, Family, and…

Outlines the gains made to date from school/business partnerships and analyzes limits of such partnerships in relation to individual school needs, reform efforts, and costs. Speculates about the effect of involving private vendors in the work of education. (CJH)

As the economy has shifted focus from production to service to information, work force composition has diversified, and the scope of required skills has expanded. The classroom of the future must integrate academic and technical knowledge and skills within an applied vocational learning model. This article explains this process. Includes five…

The Dalton Plan, developed by Helen Parkhurst in the 1920s, completely restructured the secondary school day into subject labs, with students determining their daily schedules. Eschewing the usual bell-driven, factory worker model, this approach abolished traditional classrooms and homework and allowed students to select monthly contracts and…

A professional economist criticizes Gerald Bracey's view that the condition of public education has little to do with the state of the nation's economy. Most studies indicate that education contributes to growing productivity, higher wages, and a sound economy. Education can serve the nation's economic needs without sacrificing education's other…

This position paper denounces what the author considers to be an increasing and excessive reliance on computers and technological advancements generally as panaceas for educational and social problems whose real resolution demands the skills of "citizens with a basic liberal arts education" rather than those of technocrats. (JBM)

Assesses the current demand for and range of vocational education programs in the United States, describing participation, program availability, teaching methods, effectiveness, student and employer attitudes toward vocational education, the importance of federal funding, and needs for improvement and changes in program content and support. (PGD)

A recent survey of Los Angeles area employers suggests that current secondary vocational education should be reformed, that employer-based skills-training programs should be created, and that more attention should be paid to the needs of small firms for workers with specialized skills. (JBM)