The overall aim of the study was to gather evidence on effective policy reforms for broad competence development in school education, including better achievement of basic skills. The six key objectives are: Objective 1: To understand the key features of policy design and implementation of reforms for broad competence development and achievement…

This dissertation examines how eight urban high schools responded to mandates to raise graduation requirements in mathematics. The change process was complicated by challenges such as the conditions of poverty, lack of adequate financial support for schools, and large numbers of students who come to high school with inadequate preparation in…

This report of the Basic Studies National Field Task Force is one of six reports by as many task forces on the improvement and reform of American education. The report begins with an introduction and alternative definitions of "basic studies." In section 3, the history of basic studies in American culture and education is traced as a…

Geography as a separate subject lost ground in the secondary school curriculum after the Korean War. A High School Geography Project stressing urban themes was developed in the late 1960s, but faded by the mid-1970s. A 1980s renaissance, spurred by educational reform mandates, seems a promising development. Includes seven references. (MLH)

Contends that the small cultural lag that normally occurs between the schools and society makes education a constant target for criticism. Maintains that schools are still the best hope for the nation's future. (Author/JM)

This article describes the back-to-basics and humanistic education movements and concludes that it is crucial to maintain the balance between the two, that both have intrinsic merit. The de-emphasis of either is an abdication of the responsibility schools assume and an injustice to the children they serve. (Author/KC)

Describes the San Francisco Unified School District's Educational Redesign Plan with respect to social studies and global education. The new curriculum is global in outlook, multicultural in focus, and emphasizes basic competencies. (KC)

"New Things Considered" reports on emerging trends and issues in education to policymakers and participants in SEDL-SCAN, an emerging issues tracking system being pilot tested by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory's Policy Information Service and the State of New Mexico. This issue presents brief summaries of the thinking…

Productive changes in schooling throughout the 1980s are contingent on emphasis being placed on school effectiveness rather than on curriculum adjustments. Today's curriculum sprawl, caused by the state and federal legislatures' penchant for creating courses to cure newly-emerging social ills, must not deplete resources that should be directed…

Describes California's integrative approach to curricular planning and staff development. Under the state's new vision of excellence, all students experience a common core curriculum providing a solid academic background and promoting literacy in the various disciplines. Content and skill development go hand in hand. Includes four references. (MLH)

Public education is justified only when schools provide a sound, basic education for all students. Devotion to basic education does not mean indifference to the social and vocational development of students. On the contrary, the first essential in such development is, and always has been, competence in the basics. (Author)

Discusses textbooks from the 1800s for young ladies versus young men, for the youngest students, more advanced students, and university students. Regards these publications as furnishing a record of the skills thought to be essential at the turn of the previous century. (KHR)

Over the past several decades, a hegemonic conservative discourse has constructed urban school reform issues around a "basic skills" curriculum model that has helped structure class, race, and gender inequalities. This article discusses some possible organizing principles for a counterhegemonic, democratic-progressive policy discourse. The…

Outlines ways that the core skills recommended by the British Secretary of State can be integrated into the economics A/AS level syllabi. Identifies and discusses these skills in the context of curriculum development. Discusses the implications for the first national examination in 1996. (NL)

The time has come to improve the quality of core courses so that all students have equal opportunities to become prepared for postsecondary education and for work. The purposes of this report are to examine the gap between secondary and postsecondary education in the U.S. and to focus on successful strategies for eliminating this gap so that all…