Using the schools to achieve racial balance, eliminate poverty, fight drug abuse, prevent pregnancy, and reduce youth suicide is too large a task. Teachers and principals should address educational issues, not unmet social needs. To improve the educational performance of the schools, the quality of life for youth must first be improved. (MSE)

Politicians and the media typically focus on single issues, positing simplistic solutions for complex problems--solutions that cannot work because they fail to take into consideration how different social problems influence and affect each other. This book provides a guide to key social factors, highlighting the critical interrelationships among…

This survey of 2,000 K-12 public school teachers affords a retrospective on the years of major education reforms and, by examining trend data from earlier surveys, measures the impact of this period in education. Teachers' priorities for the near-term future are also examined. The report presents some possible directions schools might take during…