For the last 10 years, polling data have recorded a consistent decline in the American citizen's support for public education. While public schools experienced an 8 percent decline in enrollment between 1968 and 1978, private school enrollment grew by 12 percent. The decline in quality of public education over the last 50 years appears strongly…

These proceedings contain 12 presentations from a conference which focused on forecasts of jobs in the 1990s and into the 21st century. The keynote address (Marvin Cetron) shows the need for reform in the American education system with illustrations drawn from the economic and employment situations in foreign countries. He makes predictions of…

Regional seminars were held to assess the ideas presented in the report, sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences, entitled "Education for Tomorrow's Jobs" and to record ways to improve the quality of vocational education. The organizers of the seminars invited knowledgeable experts in the field to discuss ways to improve vocational…

Social scientists have adopted two different views on the influence of the community and home on academic achievement of lower-class and minority students. The first is the deficit perspective, or the failure-of-socialization hypothesis. The second is the difference perspective, or the cultural-discontinuity/failure-of-communication hypothesis.…

Written in response to requests from local school districts in New York State, this document provides information about the middle grades (grades 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) and the changing nature of students in these grades. The first section reports results of studies on this difficult developmental period that were conducted by three New York school…

The Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah Restoration Act (1980) restored federal recognition of the tribe after a quarter century of ambiguous political status, and resulted in significant improvements of educational status of tribal members and intensification of the political presence of Southern Paiutes. Following the Paiute Indian Termination Act…

The Utah Commission on Educational Excellence was created by the Utah State Board of Education to recommend improvements in the quality of education and the efficiency of schools. This report begins by summarizing the commission's 27 final recommendations for significant change in the Utah education system. These recommendations look to a system…

This book analyzes how community-based organizations in low income urban neighborhoods can promote reform of their local public schools. Chapter 1, "Reassessing the Declining Urban Neighborhood," discusses the sources of urban decline in terms of a structural relationship between "haves" and "have-nots." Chapter 2,…

An ethnographic investigation of interrelationships between teacher efficacy attitudes, teacher behavior, students' performance, and organizational climate in a total school setting was conducted at Chauncey Elementary School in Athens, Ohio. Chauncey was studied because its teachers had begun to implement an open classroom model which promoted a…

This document presents a set of action-oriented mandates developed at a conference of black national and grassroots organizations and associations to discuss ways to improve the education of black children. The mandates cover the following major issue areas: (1) students, who attend school to become intellectually, socially, and economically…

This document provides the text of Senate bill S. 373, reauthorizing the program of finance assistance to meet the special education needs of children of low-income families, children of migrant parents, Indian children, and handicapped, neglected, and delinquent children. Allocations and program requirements for the following types of programs…

In 1984, the New York State Regents issued an action plan calling for changes in curriculum, high school graduation requirements, and educational standards. Histories of school reform indicate, however, that state legislation alone cannot successfully or permanently improve educational practice. This essay therefore surveys the history of federal…

This report describes the results of three meetings among eight national education organizations (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, American Educational Research Association, American Federation of Teachers, Association of Teacher Educators, Council of Chief State School Officers, National Association of State Boards of…

This report describes the New York City public school system's experiences with decentralization since 1970. The report includes an introductory chapter explaining the conditions that led to the adoption of decentralization; analytical case studies of eight New York City decentralized school districts; and two concluding chapters on findings and…

This paper summarizes several research findings in order to determine the urban high school characteristics that are most likely to decrease alienation among inner city, minority students, and to make their attitudes toward education, themselves, and their futures more positive. First, the paper discusses the phenomenon of alienation in society…