Public administrators can play a vital role in the articulation of demands emerging from the community and can serve to advance these demands by their position of authority, skills and knowledge to help facilitate the development of programs and projects to address public needs. This article describes the role that a small Master of Public…

This paper examines the development and administration of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for Schools--a new testing instrument of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development--to demonstrate the relevance of heterarchical processes to educational governance. Drawing suggestively across new "relational"…

In December 2014, the Coalition for the Future of Detroit Schoolchildren (CFDS) was formed to make sweeping educational reform recommendations regarding the provision and governance of public education in Detroit. Spearheaded by community organizations, labor unions, and business interests representing an array of stakeholders in the Detroit area,…

Because of the critical importance of education to the productivity and competitiveness of business, the Ad Hoc Committee on Education, comprised of senior executives from major corporations, was established in November 1987 to identify actions the Business Roundtable could take to improve the quality of elementary and secondary education in the…

Responds to the report of the National Commission on Excellence in Education, taking issue with the two major themes of the report: the poor condition of American schooling and what to do to effect improvements. Comments on several of the report's recommendations for action. (RH)

Since the announcement in 1999 of a plan to tie teachers' salary increases to student achievement by Denver Public Schools, there has been a flood of nationwide policy activity around teacher compensation. This paper examines pay plans in Denver, Toledo, Minneapolis, and New York City, offering a snapshot of the changing landscape of teacher…

This paper addresses the need to correct the present system of educating black children in the United States. The first section offers a review of the history of policy toward and focus of black education. It is proposed that although black children are no longer denied education, programs such as Head Start and Follow Through are created on the…

In this speech, the author suggests that the success of public schools depends heavily on commitment to and large-scale agreement on educational goals. He examines the difficulty in creating rational programs to carry out specific behavioral goals and the more remote ends usually stated for educational systems. The author then discusses the…

This report is an initial effort to describe efforts of a number of states that are seeking to create statewide systems of high-quality pre-kindergarten services, as well as some of the progress they have made in doing so. Focusing on the efforts of a sample of eight U.S. states, it examines the policy choices that states have made when…

Themes and issues discussed in the two-part series "Equity-Based Education" are reviewed. Educational alternatives incorporating conceptual clarity, racial, social, and economic equality, and strategic viability must be sought and found. Conceptual, measurement, and planned change tools should be developed. A case book on equity for educationists…

Five major themes mark the development of public education in New York City from its early nineteenth century beginning to the mid-twentieth century: (1) the effort to provide free education for all children through the twelfth grade; (2) the development of special schools and programs for gifted youth; (3) the development of programs for children…

The issue of providing public education for undocumented students (children of foreign-born persons who reside and/or work in the United States without proper permission from immigration authorities) is receiving current attention for two major reasons: (1) fear that the financial burden on local taxpayers will increase in areas with increasing…

In January 1991, the National School Readiness Task Force was formed to promote the national goal of assuring that all children start school ready to learn. This report presents the Task Force's considerations and recommendations based on research reviews and interviews with practitioners nationwide. Following a brief discussion of the Task Force…

The standards set in teacher-certification requirements, and the effectiveness of the administration of certification, have been intimately related to the advancement of public education. The major portions of previous reports from the Office of Education were devoted to the presentation of the detailed requirements for obtaining the different…

This book, which is intended for policymakers, administrators, and researchers, contains 13 research papers and reviews of the literature on increasing the effectiveness of publicly funded training. The following papers are included: "Publicly Funded Training in a Changing Labor Market" (Burt S. Barnow, Christopher T. King); "The…