The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation has commissioned studies of state academic standards in five core subjects. This is the fourth of these studies, focusing on state standards for mathematics. For this evaluation of mathematics standards, researchers developed nine criteria under the four areas of: clarity, content, reason, and negative qualities.…

This paper provides a brief review of major research findings on how the kind and level of courses students take in high school affect their performance on tests, their readiness for college-level work, and their persistence in earning a degree. It also features a look at what constitutes a "rigorous" high school curriculum. Highlights from four…

The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation has commissioned studies of state academic standards in five core subjects. This is the third of these studies, concentrating on geography, the core subject that has been the most neglected in the U.S. academic curriculum. Standards documents were solicited from all the states, and were submitted by 38 states and…

There are two currents of social studies reform. One involves the search for an appropriate social studies core and is spearheaded by state governments and scholarly organizations. The second reform movement flows toward a social studies curriculum based on urgent domestic issues and the realities of global interdependence. The cross-purposes of…

A two-issue volume presents articles describing innovative schools, classrooms, and alternative learning arrangements found in some of today's schools. Issue one contains three articles offering glimpses of an elementary school committed to the Core Knowledge curriculum of E. D. Hirsch, a renovated school devoted to early childhood learning…

The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation has commissioned studies of state academic standards in five core subjects. This is the second of these studies, focusing on standards for history. After the controversy surrounding the proposed "national history standards" in 1994, history has become a subject with no generally accepted national standards.…

The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation has commissioned studies of state academic standards in five core subjects. This is the fifth of these studies, focusing on state standards for science. Thirty-six states presented standards for evaluation. Some states were in the process of revising standards, while others simply had no standards to present.…

This bulletin highlights the efforts of the St. Louis Community College District to revitalize the liberal arts on its campuses. First, the structures and activities that were used to develop a liberal arts curriculum are described, including: (1) the formation of districtwide and campus Liberal Arts Committees; (2) the development of project…

The four issues of this 1998 publication on gifted and talented students address the themes of: (1) acceleration and grouping, (2) professional development, (3) core content areas, and (4) giftedness: a Texas tradition. Major articles are: "Cooperative Learning, Curriculum Access, and the Challenge of Acceleration" (Ann Robinson);…

Although the nation's two-year college movement has been largely successful in providing higher education to a broad range of people, new barriers are emerging to the performance of this function. The problem is evident in the fact that increasing numbers of students neither enter nor leave the educational system with the competencies necessary…

This bulletin describes the Dallas Community College District's (DCCD's) efforts to develop a common learning core curriculum. Introductory material discusses the creation of Committees for Common Learning to decide on standards and requirements for all students who enroll in degree programs at any of the seven district colleges and to design an…

The research reported in this paper identifies the "core curriculum" and "optional curriculum" suggested by widely used textbooks of elementary school mathematics and describes the influence of each on teacher autonomy in selecting the content of instruction. Preliminary analyses suggest that the "core curriculum" is generally consistent with…

The Fordham Foundation commissioned experts in each of the five core academic subjects (English, history, geography, mathematics, and science) to develop criteria for excellence and apply them to as many state standards as could be obtained. This summary report compiles the numerical scores and letter grades that each state earned in every…

Renne (Oregon) Intermediate School offers an innovative program of personalized instruction to students in grades 6-8. Teachers work closely with individual students, following a continuous progress curriculum which allows cross-grade-level placement in the core areas of math, reading, and language arts. Based on cooperative district planning, the…

Eight programs are described that are representative of the variety of approaches to the problem of integrating the sciences and humanities. The reason why integration of science, humanities, and the social sciences is important in the undergraduate learning experience is addressed in an essay by George W. Hazzard entitled, "Knowledge…