Examines the assumptions that educational vouchers will mean less state control over education, more choice for parents, and education that serves the child's best interest. The assertion that a voucher system will lead to more efficient and effective schools is examined in the light of five educational goals. (CMG)

This article evaluates the educational voucher system and how it may solve effectiveness and efficiency problems of the educational system through market accountability. Educational goals and state and community roles in reaching these goals are discussed. Comments by Richard J. Murnane and Edwin G. West are given. (DF)

Efforts to professionalize teaching in recent years have contrasted sharply with regulatory initiatives that deprofessionalize the occupation and the act of teaching. Choices made now between better regulations and better teachers will determine the shape of education in years to come. (TE)

This report presents the results of one of the first empirical investigations of how a tax subsidy for tuition costs actually influences parents' school choices. It provides data about subsidy costs, utilization, and effects in Minnesota, the first state to have a tuition subsidy pass judicial review at all levels of the court system. The study…

This paper focuses on ways in which one state policy for improving education--standard-setting through testing mechanisms--affects the classroom teacher-learner relationship. That uniform policy-making is problematic is clear from observations of 43 Mid-Atlantic school district teachers. Responding to three types of standards, 45 percent found…

During the 1990s, a new policy hypothesis focusing on the quality of teaching to provide a high-leverage means for improving student achievement began to gain currency. Based on interview, observation, survey, and record data collected at the state, district, and school levels over a five-year time period, the study offers a look at how the San…