Arts education in California's schools has experienced peaks and valleys over the decades, due to budgetary cutbacks and an almost exclusive focus on literacy, mathematics and science achievement. Gradually, the tide is beginning to turn, and interest in arts education has experienced a resurgence of sorts, resulting from new fine arts…

This paper describes the commonly found "knowledge delivery" education format and argues that work outside the academy and more in-depth academic training demand skills and competencies not developed by the "knowledge delivery" model. The knowledge curriculum education is characterized as lecture-type instruction, knowledge delivery and exposure,…

The draft version of South Carolina's state foreign language curriculum for elementary and secondary schools is presented. It begins by discussing the rationale for foreign/second language education, focusing on economic, cultural, intellectual reasons for studying languages and examining enrollment patterns and trends in the state. The second…

This paper describes the preliminary research, developmental process, pilot program, and midpoint evaluation of the restructured Educational Leadership Academy for entry-level school administrators and other school leaders at Pepperdine University. Twenty years ago, Los Angeles Unified School District and Pepperdine University established the…

This book is for curriculum leaders at the state, district, and school levels who want specific guidelines about the recommended content of each field. Contributing authors were asked to address the following issues: standards; the influence of cognitive psychology, technology, and assessment on curriculum content; curriculum structure; current…

This study sought to discover the factors that influenced the selection and organization of learning experiences by medical students engaged in designing individualized curricula. Ten students of the Independent Study Program (ISP) of the College of Medicine at Chicago-University of Illinois participated in the study. Data were collected through…

Only in the last several years have state curriculum guides become prominent in education reform discourse and policy. This paper focuses on the organization and content of curriculum guides in four states regarded as leaders in education reform--Florida, Texas, California, and New York--in an effort to develop a way of comparing and contrasting…

Cultural and national history have profoundly modeled Greek society and continue to play a vital role in Greek policy and in cultural and social life. This handbook provides a brief overview of secondary education in Greece. The first part describes the country's societal, historical, and political background; educational history and current…

After providing a historical context for art education, this text explores the implications for art education from the broad themes found in art across the cultures. Discussions focus on how art education programs promote cross cultural diversity in art, affirm and enhance self-esteem and pride in students' cultural heritage, and address issues of…

This paper examines the curriculum Charles Dickens wrote for his children, an "easy account" of selections from the New Testament. Dickens designed the curriculum to make this material accessible and meaningful to his children prior to schooling under the direction of other teachers, tutors, or governesses, and earlier than the language…

Technology education as a key learning area can be viewed as the designing, making, and appraising of systems, materials, and information. This study examined young Australian children's technological experiences prior to beginning school in order to build on their learning base in curriculum planning. The purposes of the research were to: (1)…

The block schedule is fast becoming the new instructional delivery format of choice for the 1990s in American secondary schools. This paper presents findings of a study that examined the effects of changing from a six-period day to a four-block schedule on two large high schools in Knox County, Tennessee. Part I of the study examined the…

This guide is intended to assist tech prep consortia/councils and high schools throughout Wisconsin in developing tech prep career maps. In the first section, a tech prep career map is defined as a counseling resource that presents a recommended sequence of specific courses and experiences designed to enable high school students to develop written…

While the call to restructure schools represents the latest quest for reform and improvement in American public education, efforts to improve have always been ongoing in many schools and districts. The eight elementary schools described in this book have been engaged in the processes of improvement for many years. A major theme that emerges from…

One of the greatest dilemmas in grass-roots school reform is how local participants can take the initiative to construct new and more powerful educational environments for students. The 11 chapters of this book provide a "how-to" guide for curriculum dynamics development, implementation, and assessment. Chapter 1 offers guidelines for establishing…