Inspired by teachers' concerns about the inadequacy of today's academic curriculum, this special section passes the buck up instead of down. Two articles explore what teachers might accomplish if no longer held captive by outmoded college admission requirements. Articles by education professors from Stanford University and the University of Oregon…

Even as Goals 2000 (the latest manifestation of factory-model schooling) is being adopted nationwide, a smaller, but growing counter-movement aimed at decentralizing and democratizing public schools has emerged. Manifestations include magnet and charter schools and the new, smaller, autonomous institutions called in-district charter or pilot…

In educational reform, the nation appears to be pursuing two distinct and possibly incompatible strategies for change. One approach is based on the philosophy of "a Nation at Risk" and has resulted in a standards-driven educational agenda. Critics of this model advocate a bottom-up, more learner-centered approach. (SLD)

Two national reform movements--one focused on creating small, autonomous schools, the other fixated on a standardization agenda--are basically in conflict. The standards movement is touting the traditional, top-down, centralized, bureaucratic system modeled after Frederick Taylor and his efficiency experts. Progressive, decentralized initiatives…

A school superintendent describes the restructuring in his Springfield (Massachusetts) school district. The effort to desegregate from the perspectives of race, color, ethnic background, and gender has involved organizational, pedagogical, social, attitudinal, and political transformation. Emphasis is given to the district's choice system. (SLD)

Our present factory-model educational system, now desperately undergoing "restructuring," was never intended as a social equalizer but as a great American academic and social sorting machine. The archaic, restrictive goals of America 2000 are doomed, along with narrowly defined intelligence quotients. A more revolutionary, restructuring…

There has been much recent debate in both educational and political circles about the utility of choice as a means of improving the educational system. This book argues that any discussion of choice must address choice in public schools. The book is organized into seven chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of choice in public education,…

Magnet schools were created as a result of the failure of mandatory desegregation plans, but the magnet schools concept has spawned the ideas of controlled parent choice of schools and the chartering of public education. Implementation of the Goals 2000 Act could jeopardize trends magnet schools have set in motion. (SLD)

Examines the success of two Massachusetts charter schools in educating at-risk students. The author compares the history, organizational structure and governance, graduation success, enrollment levels, and student composition of each school. (GLR)

Describes "essential" classrooms, where students concentrate on essential subjects and learn to think for themselves, at Fairdale High School in Louisville (Kentucky). The accompanying interview with T. R. Sizer outlines this new direction in education. The most credible agent for change is a comparable school already involved. (SLD)

Central Park East Secondary School in New York City is a secondary school run in the kindergarten tradition of personalized learning and catering to the student's growing independence. The description of the school's operation is accompanied by an interview with its codirector, D. Meier. (SLD)