Finland has, as of late, become an inspiration for American school reform. There is no denying that we have much to learn from the Finnish system and it rightly deserves its global accolades. However, over the course of the following pages, I would like to suggest that it is also lucrative to look north of the 49th parallel and consider the…

This document presents recommendations made by Tennessee's High School Advisory Task Force, with a focus on describing what students should know and be able to do after completing high school. Nine elements that are essential for schoolwide reform are identified: a core curriculum, a focused plan of study, active learning, an integrated…

The origin of the idea of systemic educational reform is traced, placing the concept within the context of educational developments in the 1980s and 1990s. How systemic reform is being interpreted and applied by analysts and policymakers today is explored. Systemic reform should be a useful step toward genuine improvement. (SLD)

Examines the relationship between the curriculum and the assessment practices of a group of 14 teachers to determine the degree that change efforts directed at teachers' curricular and instructional approaches have affected other areas of professional practice. Findings indicate that teachers still rely on traditional assessment methods, although…

After 1987, Gorbachev's initiatives provoked strong educator discord over the extent of desirable national education policy change and the rewriting of the nation's history. Classroom teachers and low-level administrators pushed for greater decision-making authority at lower levels. By 1989, these differences had settled into a pattern of ongoing,…

Education reform efforts across the United States are dramatically raising expectations for student achievement. However, the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) found that teachers have not been adequately prepared for the changes in practice needed to meet new student learning goals. This publication briefly examines research…

In this article, the author discusses the pedagogical negligence on civic education after 9/11 due to the No Child Left Behind Policy resulting in several counterproductive restructuring of curricula, which include the creation of a core ninth-grade course in civics, integrated service learning across the curriculum, and the restructuring of…

This paper provides an overview of the role of education and training in the reconstruction and development of South Africa. It describes the history of education and the rationale for reconstruction and development programs. Issues and transitional reform initiatives pertaining to educational policies, general education, tertiary education, adult…

In the past decade, states have taken an increasingly active role in designing new policies intended to reform America's high schools. This book offers a systematic, empirical look at the most widely adopted policy reform strategy--mandatory changes in high school graduation requirements. Maryland is used as a case study, exploring five…

In the context of the growing challenges to public education that have materialized in California over the past decade, this first of two volumes is presented as a resource document for legislators and others interested in education reform. Volume 1 looks at emerging education issues for the 1995-96 legislative session and summarizes the state's…

The National Institute for Educational Research (NIER), Tokyo (Japan) and the Asia-Pacific Centre of Educational Innovation for Development (APEID) of the United Nations Scientific, Cultural, and Educational Organization (UNESCO) organized a regional seminar to explore issues related to secondary education in Asia and the Pacific and to formulate…

The present system of education in the United States is wasteful of human and monetary resources and is organized to deny learning opportunities to most students. Education is the biggest business in the United States, and it is the most important business because it molds the character and ability of current and future citizens. Schools should be…

This collection presents the best of 8 years of "Rethinking Schools," an education reform journal created in Milwaukee (Wisconsin) in 1986 by teachers vitally concerned with educational change. This volume contains 29 essays by classroom teachers, as well as pieces by such national reform figures as Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Herbert Kohl,…

Leading educational reformers have recently contended that students in U.S. secondary schools rarely are challenged to use their minds in any meaningful way. Faced with the remarkable absence of classroom thoughtfulness in U.S. schools, educational reformers have suggested that major organizational changes are necessary to improve the emphasis on…

State boards of education are routinely placed in the challenging position of reacting to emerging problems or responding to policy proposals generated by other actors in the policy arena. This policy briefing paper was written to help members of the North Carolina Board of Education identify educational policy issues they are likely to confront…