America is on the precipice of ruining its foundation for success. The movement toward a centralized education system through federal mandates and common curriculum and testing is threatening the very system that has contributed to America's success and that holds the potential for its future success: that is a decentralized, diverse, largely…

All students, including those with significant cognitive disabilities, must participate in accountability testing under NCLB regulations. Each state must provide an alternate assessment for students unable to participate in general accountability testing. Carefully designed alternate assessment systems have the potential to go beyond meeting…

Basic education in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) seems to be characterized by lecture methods of instruction, a lack of interdisciplinary approaches and a disconnection with local community problems. During 2008, a "My Community, Our Earth" (MyCOE) workshop was organized in the MENA region and involved teachers of geography,…

In this article, we argue that preparing and maintaining a cadre of culturally responsive teachers is critical to improving urban education and achieving educational equity. We discuss a collaborative, social-justice-oriented approach to teacher preparation committed to developing a stable and effective teaching force reflective of the student…

Business-Higher Education Forum's study of the Seamless Education Partnership began with a theory of action for cross-sector efforts to increase alignment from Pre-K through graduate school (P-20) and improve educational outcomes. BHEF's theory of action posits that community leaders coalesce around a shared vision that is shaped by local context…

A model for enhancing the local capacity of urban schools for solving problems by restructuring school settings is the subject of this paper. In identifying the strength and weaknesses of such a concept, the paper reviews data from nine sites studied by the Documentation and Technical Assistance (DTA) project for their applicability to other…

The author discusses the thought and behavior of educators faced with the growing gap between scientific rationality (application of linear procedures, cause-effect relationships, and other simplistic systems) and control of the schools, in the one hand, and the growing body of knowledge about the social reality of schools which eschews such…

THE OBJECTIVE WAS TO TEST THE CONCEPT THAT A STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT WHEN WORKING DEMOCRATICALLY WITH COUNTY AND LOCAL UNITS CAN PROVIDE SOCIALLY DESIRABLE GOALS. PROFESSIONALS OF THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, PRINCIPALS, TEACHERS, PARENTS, AND PUPILS FROM TWO COUNTIES WERE GIVEN A BATTERY OF ADJUSTMENT AND VALUES INDEXES, A MEASURE OF…

In order to compare education perceptions in southern Mississippi with nationwide trends that were identified in the 1992 Gallup/Phi Delta Kappa Poll, the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Park Poll sought opinions of respondents on the subjects of public attitudes toward public schools, presidential preferences, and state and national level…

A study was conducted to determine whether teachers in districts using state-mandated (traditional) teacher evaluation systems or educators in districts using locally developed alternative teacher evaluation systems perceived teacher evaluation as having a stronger positive impact on school improvement, professional development, and student…

Describes a Brazilian project that aimed to improve the standard of science education in primary public schools through computer assisted learning. A neural network to analyze models is presented that was used with students 11 to 18 years old for topics on local environmental problems. (Author/LRW)

Warns of the limitations of educational reform via standards and standardization as seen in New York, NY. Focuses on "culturally responsive pedagogy," which is needed to build a system sensitive to the backgrounds and contexts of students and schooling. (CMK)

Discussed are some decision-making influences on the attitudes of New York City parents toward school decentralization. The Mass Media Committee of the Center for Urban Education maintains a representative panel of parents from whom information about communication experiences and responses to educational issues can be gathered. Telephone…

Summarizes the crises and calls for change from 1981-1988 within the Detroit (Michigan) school system that led to the creation of the HOPE (Hayden, Olmstead, and Patrick for Education) coalition. Discusses the years the HOPE coalition headed the school board and the reasons for its failure. Addresses the implications for other cities. (CMK)

Three Rural Education Conferences sponsored during 1977 by the National Institute of Education proposed to find ways to strengthen the capacity of people at the local level to identify and solve their own education problems. The first conference focused on the nature of rural communities and the political, social, economic, and geographic…