Describes the 1997 Keizai Koho Center Fellowship study tour of Japan in which a group of American, Australian, Canadian, and English educators visited two Japanese elementary schools. Compares the structure, classroom activities, and curriculum of each elementary school in detail and reflects upon the future trends in Japanese education. (CMK)

Reports initial findings of a small-scale research project investigating how school governing bodies contribute to school improvement. Examines the extent of board members' assumption of responsibility for monitoring and evaluating curriculum and school performance. Discusses possible tensions created by a lay body undertaking educational…

A turnaround school in Mission, Texas proves poverty and underachievement are not synonymous. The 1998 passing rate on state assessments was 90.7 percent, compared to 41.2 percent in 1993. Factors include committed faculty, a strong principal, extended reading practice and instructional time, incentives and recognition, and pre-assessment…

According to Annenburg Institute consultants, all education community members need the responsibility and authority to take appropriate leadership roles. Effective schools develop a shared vision, determine clear priorities, promote continuous professional learning, link schools to community assets, provide strong accountability, and reorganize…

Education, like other public services, is now characterized by a range of structural realignments, new purchaser-provider relationships, and new management/political coalitions. The school-effectiveness movement exemplifies the new managerialism in education, part of an ideological and technological process to industrialize school productivity.…

The future of middle-school education demands a response to contemporary challenges, not simple repetition of once-innovative initiatives. To survive, the maturing middle-school movement must abandon orthodoxy, embrace choice, accept accountability, appreciate student diversity, discuss achievement issues, modify curricular and instructional…

Recalls a previous attempt, via the Committee of Ten, to set national academic standards in American high schools 100 years earlier, describes the effort's defeat, and explains how the objections raised then are much like the ones being raised today. The author argues that the need for national academic standards is more urgent now than ever…

Discusses the nature of school restructuring in Australia and provides a justification for restructuring predicated on improving teaching and learning. Provides various restructuring frameworks, recognizes the need to clarify qualifying conditions, and addresses ways to overcome implementation problems. Ambiguity and ambivalence over…

Examined elementary school interventions perceived to address the challenges related to high student mobility. Found that schools experiencing high mobility had a diverse network of programs that provided curricular and extracurricular services including academic and family support; school personnel believed these interventions addressed either…

To assess student achievement, states use a variety of accountability tools including school report cards, effectiveness scores, and school rankings. Responses from all 50 state departments of education showed that 19 states rank schools on their effectiveness as part of the state's accountability system. Three states use test scores alone for…

Investigates parents' preferences in the areas of academic quality, racial composition of students, school values, and disciplinary codes through a survey of two suburban and inner-city school districts. Demonstrates that parents of different socioeconomic and racial backgrounds find different school attributes important. Concludes that parents'…

The growing interest in assessing the quality of education outcomes can be seen in the ever-increasing frequency of use of international and national surveys (e.g., Program for International Student Assessment [PISA], the Progress in Reading and Literacy Study [PIRLS], or the Third International Mathematics and Science Study [TIMSS]). These…

Detroit's Benjamin Carson Academy (BCA) is believed to be the nation's first charter school for juvenile offenders. Opened in 1999, BCA is housed in the newly built Wayne County Juvenile Detention Facility, a state of the art, 89,300-square-foot building in downtown Detroit with half a dozen gymnasiums, two computer labs, a media center, mental…

This article reports data from children aged about 5 years in their 1st year of schooling. Scores on tests of both literacy and numeracy at the start and end of the year were used to derive value-added measures of progress using both residual gain analysis and multilevel (ML) modelling. Results indicated that the school was more effective in…

Offers predictions about educational inequality over the next one hundred years. Foresees a continuation in the trend toward a decline in black-white racial inequality. Argues that educational inequality by socioeconomic background will persist at current levels throughout the next century. Bases these predictions on past trends. (CAJ)