Discusses the constitutionality of community service activity as a graduation requirement. Analyzes issues in the "Steirer versus Bethlehem" case, in particular school district control of the curriculum, the first amendment and free speech, and the 13th amendment and involuntary servitude. (SR)

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Massachusetts) sends over 200 science and engineering students abroad each year to fulfill graduation requirements. Most go abroad for only two months, and the projects they work on, which are not necessarily related to their majors, are often for local businesses, government agencies, or other organizations.…

Many educators, parents, and students are upset with the National Collegiate Athletic Association Initial Eligibility Clearinghouse's rejection of some high school graduates' acceptable coursework. The NCAA should stop trying to dictate high school course content, increase scrutiny of its members, tighten academic requirements for on-campus…

Summarizes trends in New Zealand's Sixth Form Certificate assessment, explains teacher views about it and a sixth-form major subject area (science, represented by National Standards Syllabus biology, chemistry, and physics), and discusses findings in the context of the National Qualifications Framework. Official scrutiny over this exam has…

Identifies the textbooks professors use in education law courses, based on a survey of 110 members of the Education Law Association during 1996-97. Almost half preferred Alexander and Alexander's "American School Law," with McCarthy and Caqmbron-McCabe's "Public School Law" a close second. Only 44% required or suggested additional nontextbook…

Service learning is not immune from legal problems. In 1993, the third Circuit Court of Appeals quashed a lawsuit claiming a school's mandatory public-service requirement violated the 1st and 13th amendments. The most recent case was pursued against a New York district whose modest public-service requirement supposedly forced students into…

Key components of state high-stakes testing are analyzed in light of major federal statutes and court cases involving the rights of children with disabilities. Concludes with three state policy recommendations for testing students with disabilities: (1) avoid testing on a single criteria; (2) give adequate notice; and (3) do not test what has not…

Asserts that weaving incremental changes into the existing stable system of undergraduate education cannot result in significant improvement because systems determine outcomes. Encourages higher education leaders to abolish the course-credit system, explaining that altering graduation requirements changes everything else: student motivation and…

We examined the prevalence of specific career and technical education (CTE) programs and activities in American high schools in the late 1990s, following a decade of education reform. We also examined the extent to which CTE-oriented professional development is available to school staff and explored the other kinds of supports offered in schools…

One of the aims of the standards and accountability movement is to make intellectually demanding course work in high school the norm. Significant progress has been made towards this goal. Expecting all students to engage in and succeed with challenging work in high school, however, places on high schools demands they have not been historically…

New Jersey leaders have launched a campaign to build support for boosting high school rigor, but some are worried that the effort could produce a higher dropout rate as the state phases out an alternative exam used by nearly 15 percent of its students. Part of the state's bid to raise expectations involves scrapping the Special Review Assessment,…

The California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) is a graduation requirement that includes passing a two part exam: English-language arts (ELA) and mathematics. Students take the exam for the first time in 10th grade. In 2005-06, the passing rates were about 77% for ELA and 75% for math. This study uses student level data to focus on the…

Ordinarily, one might expect that an alternative education program that encourages thousands of secondary students to stay in school and remain on track to earn a high school diploma would have broad support. However, New Jersey's "special review assessment" or SRA, has been the subject of longstanding and, at times, contentious public…

The authors have attempted to implement "less is more" in a variety of educational contexts. The schools they have been part of include a pilot school in Boston, New Mission High School(New Mission), a charter school in Fitchburg, North Central Charter Essential School (NCCES), and a charter school in Devens, Francis W. Parker Charter…

States have moved rapidly over the past 20 years to institute systems of standards and assessments. State assessments in particular take on added importance at the high school level as they are required for graduation by an increasing number of states. Federal legislation mandating testing in high school also serves to increase the stakes and…