To increase understanding of the educational reform movement, the Center for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) embarked on a five-year study of the implementation and effects of state education reforms in six states (Arizona, California, Florida, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania) with diverse reform approaches. This article presents the center's…

The requirement for legal behavior recognizes that the university is immersed in society and is subject to its rules; those rules are enforced by persons external to the academy. The need for ethical behavior, however, may require that the university stand apart from, or above, its supporting society. (MLW)

The president of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago discusses the history of and issues in two art exhibits at the institution, one in which a late mayor was depicted in a controversial manner and another in which the United States flag was displayed in an unusual way. (MSE)

China has moved from condemning sex education, on political grounds, to according it high national priority. This article gives a brief overview of the history of sex education in China from 1949 to 1988, outlines reasons for the many changes, and lists various texts that have been used. (Author/IAH)

Argues that the New Right has translated economic doctrine into the language of experience and moral imperative through populist politics. Maintains that curriculum decisions are involved in political and cultural conflict as depicted by the question: Whose knowledge becomes official knowledge? Urges curriculum workers to speak for the progressive…

Public education and the preservation of American civilization is keyed to the well-being of the nation's 50 largest school districts. Large urban districts are difficult to operate, serve largely nonwhite and needy populations, and are undergoing badly eroding property tax bases essential for their funding. We desperately need informed,…

Defining community politically (as a flexible arena for debating perspectives and achieving purpose) provides different ways to consider diversity. Diversity becomes not an anomaly but an integral part of the community process; conflict is legitimized as appropriate and inevitable in achieving school purposes. Administrators must mediate conflict,…

Historically, such testing programs as intelligence tests and Chapter I minimum competency testing have inadvertently perpetuated inequalities. An equitable national testing program must look beyond the mystique of testing technologies, clearly define purposes of assessment, recruit minorities into the testing field, and establish an independent…

Fritz Detwiler's article (in the December 1993/January 1994 "Educational Leadership" issue) implies that had Blissfield (Pennsylvania) Community Schools followed a democratic process, the district's Communities for Developing Minds project would have been adopted. Fundamentalist pressures prevailed despite Blissfield's democratic…

Describes the difficulties caused by educators holding to a view of teaching that assumes that there is one "pedagogically correct" way of running a classroom. Provides three examples of harmful pedagogical correctness ("untracked" classes, cooperative learning, and testing and test-wiseness). Argues that such dogmatic views of…

Expresses a concern to look beyond happy endings in reading materials to texts whose bleakness, harshness, and grimness deal with complex human issues. Provides ideas and methods by which teachers might accomplish this. Discusses relevant literary texts. (HB)

Reviews educational history and curriculum development in Norway from the eighteenth century to the present. Describes the development and implementation of centralized curriculum administration. Discusses and analyzes recent trends toward decentralized control and local efforts in curriculum development. (CFR)

Discusses recent, radical reforms in France's preservice teacher education introduced by a socialist government within a changing political, economic, and educational climate. The paper examines the European context, history of France's teacher education, teacher training before recent reforms, current reforms, subject versus professional…

Argues that inefficiency resulting from government regulation is the natural result of a process that does not have efficiency as its primary goal. Presents three examples of government regulation as supporting evidence. Concludes that efficiency is more likely to come from elected policymakers than from bureaucrats working in regulatory agencies.…

Advocates of participatory leadership, site-based management, and decentralization often assume that changing decision-making group composition will automatically improve the quality of decisions being made. Stakeholder satisfaction does not guarantee quality results. This article offers a framework for moving the decision-making discussion from…