Given the curriculum's importance in the educational process, curriculum evaluation should be considered as essential as a district financial audit. When Fenwick English conducted a 1979 curriculum audit of Columbus, Ohio, schools, the accounting firm encountered numerous problems concerning development, review, and management practices. Planning…

Gang activities are often part of a complex web of drugs, abuse, and high regard for violent and criminal behavior. This article discusses the spread of street gangs and describes innovative intervention and prevention programs, such as Chicago's counseling/support project using ex-gang members. Experts' tips are also provided. (MLH)

Based on the experience of the Los Angeles Unified School District (California), this article presents areas for school districts to scrutinize when planning for emergencies. These include written plans, duplicate home telephone listings, communications plans, staff identification cards, utility shutoff information, and food and shelter…

America still refuses to deal with racism's effects on a child's character development. The "Focus on the Family" agenda must become part of the school's agenda, but it cannot be based on one religion's teachings, as Linda Page suggests ("A Conservative Christian View on Values," this issue). Public schools must teach the facts…

For both schools and hospitals, measure of quality is in tailoring service delivery (or responding) to individual need. To succeed, work process must be designed and managed for responding. Hospitals may appear to operate more systemically than schools because an invisible standard underlies all medical treatments. Perhaps a single framework or…

Describes the coping responses of three administrators who dealt with various school tragedies, namely, a senior's suicide, a classroom hostage situation involving a bomb explosion, and a tornado that collapsed a cafeteria wall. A sidebar outlines one district's crisis plan. (MLH)

Linda Page ("A Conservative Christian View on Values," this issue) has given education leaders a partial philosophical foundation for character education in our schools. Although the list of six character traits is useful, her prescription falls short of what is needed. There is no ideal program. Character education should be built into…

Most adults would agree that the AIDS threat has reached crisis proportions and that strong measures are required to control the spread of HIV among adolescents. Although abstinence offers the best protection, teens exposed to risks must protect themselves with knowledge, skills, and access to latex condoms. High school condom distribution is…

Suggests that protecting children is humanity's moral litmus test and the overarching moral challenge in our world and nation, where millions of children's lives are ravaged by adult wars, neglect, abuse, and racial, ethnic, religious, and class divisions. Notes that what school leaders accomplish now (investing in child health, early childhood…

The decline of the family is well documented and probably irreversible. Parents are using more elective time for self-pursuits that compete for the time and energy needed for child rearing. Parents' reduced accountability to children challenges schools to assimilate a new personal form of responsibility. Schools must support, not supplant,…

Linda Page's article ("A Conservative Christian View on Values," this issue) mistakenly argues that the source of this country's moral crisis lies in a 30-year history of moral relativism in schools promoted by the values-clarification movement. Page unfairly blames educators for the growth in crime and violence and the decline of moral…

Presents "typical" responses to a teacher's suicide at a fictitious high school, highlighting both appropriate and inappropriate responses. Actions such as holding an impromptu faculty meeting, providing counseling, and selecting a spokesperson worked. The district erred in having no existing plan or crisis headquarters, making misguided…

Children are becoming a luxury (or an economic liability) for postmodern parents. For some parents, child rearing is a recreational activity ranking low on the priority list. As parents abrogate more responsibilities to the schools, society will have to allocate more funds for education. Even teens and college students need more adult-organized…

Many school administrators want to develop profiling procedures to identify violence-prone students before bullets start flying. Warning signs (chronic depression, anger, abusive home conditions, violent history) are a staring point. Two FBI agents recommend visiting classrooms, identifying troubled kids, and ensuring that they get help. (MLH)

At a 1992 meeting, 30 national leaders put aside differences and agreed on 6 character traits that should be taught in school, including trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, justice and fairness, caring, and citizenship. Students are adrift because schools have abandoned the teaching of absolute moral values. Legal alternatives for…