In this excerpt from her new book, "National Standards in American Education: A Citizen's Guide," Diane Ravitch argues that there are steps local school boards, parents, and communities can take to implement educational reform and high academic standards. (MLF)

Considers the ambiguity surrounding curriculum workers' conceptualizations of global education. Adopting a framework that encompasses nationalist, international commerce, and humanist perspectives, the article highlights how each viewpoint affects curriculum development, recommending that all three perspectives be considered and synthesized during…

Explores the theory and organizational politics of built-environment decision making and shows how "positive" theory regarding contentious ends appears to be systematically misapplied. Misapplications can be revealed by questioning the underlying aims of decision makers and of the organizational politics involved. (Author/AEF)

This editorial provides an informal review of "The Bell Curve" (Herrnstein and Murray, 1994). The book, packaged as scientific writing, is an attack on affirmative action and on government attempts to foster egalitarianism. It is a political treatise that assumes that racial differences in intelligence are valid and genetic. (SLD)

Presents information from a research project that investigated advantages and disadvantages of the diversity of school management interests in Northern Ireland and the effects of direct rule on framing and implementing educational policy. The effect of direct rule on the power of English and Welsh local education authorities is also discussed. (SM)

Advocates a new politics of difference for Australia in which the tendency to collapse differences and contradictions of experience into cultural explanations will be replaced by an approach that emphasizes differences conceived of as subjective experiences. Dialogue across difference is advocated rather than dialogue between difference. (SLD)

Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, is the site of conflict between the teacher union and the school board. The board has hired Alternative Public Schools, Inc. to manage Turner Elementary School and has given the company permission to hire a new staff at Turner. State legislation may kill the union's court case. (MLF)

Presents a transcript of an interview with the American literary theorist and cultural critic Jane Tompkins. Covers aspects of her various writings. Relates her thought to the field of English studies. Analyzes recent trends in college English. (HB)

Review of educational reforms in Russia under Yeltsin shows the progress of decentralization, development of alternative schools, and a trend toward educational "apartheid" based on social status and ability to pay. (SK)

Attitudes expressed by participants of a 1992 conference on the politics of multilingualism, particularly in the new European context, are summarized. Issues addressed include the role of French as a universal language, the concept of national identity, and the relationships between language and world view and between language and political…

Local school boards have been bypassed by state-generated educational reforms and often impede progress toward decentralization. The Twentieth Century Fund/Danforth Foundation Task Force on School Governance advises states to abolish existing school boards and replace them with local education policy boards responsible for setting policy…

Analyzes the culture in China and how politics determines the form of educational institutions. Asserts that China's educational system is designed to promote selected students to elite status in the Communist Party. Discusses the links between education and the political elite and their effect on social mobility. (DMM)

Addresses the educational and political conditions leading to state takeovers of local school districts. State intervention involves a complex interplay of issues related to authority, responsibility, and accountability. Although state takeovers are legitimate, they will not necessarily produce higher quality educational programs. The principal…

Offers parable concerning cobbler who lost control of how he operated within his profession. Notes many teachers also feel they are not in charge, that the curriculum is driven by standardized tests and/or the scope and sequence of the published program adopted by the school system. Expresses encouragement that a growing number of teachers are…

To convince voters to approve a school tax increase, school board members need to do the following: (1) show a fiscally tight and well-organized school district; (2) show the public that you care; (3) show a sense of personal and board conviction; (4) explain how decisions have been reached; and (5) educate the public about school issues. (MLF)