Two persistent dilemmas haunt school reform: curriculum politics and classroom constancy. Both undermined the 1960s' new social studies, a dynamic reform movement centered on inquiry, issues, and social activism. Dramatic academic freedom controversies ended reform and led to a conservative restoration. On one side were teachers and curriculum…

Discusses contemporary curriculum discourse, reflecting on the split between (1) academic curricularists whose work focuses on school practice and those whose work does not and (2) those who believe curriculum reform is possible without social reconstruction and those who do not. The role of corporate discourse is examined. (SM)

Drawing on research that considers out-of-school conditions, in-school conditions, and transformational leadership, the article constructs a strategy for building teachers' commitment to change, demonstrating that alterability of variables by facilitators of teacher commitment can positively influence curriculum reform. Findings explaining…

Since the 1960s, a dizzying array of educational reforms have been introduced in school districts across the United States. This book describes a study that focused on how successive waves of reform interacted within a single school district. The study follows the suburban Cottonwood School District from its beginnings in the early 1950s through…

Asserts that teachers are already significant decision makers regarding curriculum and instruction. Argues that teachers and students cannot be empowered by others. Suggests four conditions to enhance teacher growth and informed engagement: systematic study of self; subject matter, pedagogy, and learners; society; and utilization of contingency…

This book points to the need to attend to ever-present inequalities of education in the light of new political correctness, technology, and curricula. Following the introduction, chapter 1 offers a review of neoconservative, liberal humanist, and radical theories of education. Chapter 2 suggests that one way to rethink and restructure the nature…

Describes planning backwards, the Coalition of Essential Schools' educational policymaking strategy for high schools. The article discusses five possible dilemmas in planning backwards: outcomes or exhibitions, local or remote authority, rigid or flexible standards, apartness or authenticity in assessment, and curriculum scaffolds built of courses…

Describes how one elementary school implemented a New American School Design, the Audrey Cohen College System of Education, using interview data to describe local adaptations to and experiences with the design and highlight how political and economic conditions negatively affected implementation. By the program's third year, there was no evidence…

This book examines the nature of comprehensive, large scale historical and social changes that contextualize educational reform, and it amplifies the meaning of lessons learned by those who have assisted in change efforts. It also examines how the rhetoric of educational change may fall short of the reality, as translated to processes and…

Sixteen chapters discuss the relationship among literacy, culture, and difference in education; restructuring school curricula to meet the needs of those traditionally excluded from education's dominant discourse; the social and cultural context of literacy; and literacy's highly political nature. After "Series Introduction: Literacy,…

Describes examples drawn mostly from urban areas that required the building of coalitions between schools and communities to create a new, more democratic context for curriculum development. Cited are the nationwide Vocational Education Project, the Southern Coalition for Educational Equity, and the "Rethinking Schools" progressive newsletter in…

Maintains that Australian curriculum governance takes place at different levels and all are targets of competing debates. Reviews recurring social influences and themes between 1981 and 1991. Asserts that the trend toward the devolution of management and curriculum control to local schools is the key to restructuring efforts. (CFR)

This analysis of the Boston (Massachusetts) Public School System considers ways of advancing the opportunity for parent choice of school and program, and ways of breaking the bureaucratic culture of big-city American public schools to introduce a culture promoting innovation and experiment. The Boston public schools system, like large urban…