During the past year, Wisconsin state legislators debated a series of bills aimed at closing low-performing public schools and replacing them with privately run charter schools. These proposals were particularly targeted at Milwaukee, the state's largest and poorest school district. Ultimately, the only legislation enacted was a bill that modestly…

Every year, the Improving Teacher Quality State Grants Program issues a Request for Proposals (RFP) to award funds provided annually from the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. In recent years, each RFP has focused on a specific objective tied to state priorities in teacher quality. Six grants were awarded in 2008: (1) Bell Gardens Science…

Hong Kong has always been proud of its economic achievement of the past decades. However, the economic turmoil that swept over East Asia has revealed the weakness in its economy, which, in turn, urges Hong Kong to reform its education system to meet the challenge of this era of information technology. There are many problems in Hong Kong's…

This British report demonstrates the importance of early learning as a preparation for effective education to promote social welfare and social order, and to develop a world-class workforce. It shows how countries benefit from providing good preschool education for children. Chapter 1 summarizes the case for the systematic public provision of high…

Three issues raised in this speech on the prospects of converting education from a labor intensive to a technology intensive enterprise are the following: how technology might affect the quality of education; the relationship of technology to equality in education; and the transitory nature of technological innovations. It is observed that quality…

This digest of recent proposals for educational reform provides a reference guide for those who wish to study these proposals in depth. Reports included are: (1) "Academic Preparation for College" (College Board Project Equality); (2) "ACSA's Recommendations on Standards" (Association of California School Administrators); (3) "Action for…