Examines the implications of Goals 2000, opportunity-to-learn standards, assessment accommodations, and accountability for identifying and promoting educational outcomes for students with disabilities. Discusses outcome-based education and outcome-based assessment and presents some consequences of the most current reform efforts for special and…

Describes "essential" classrooms, where students concentrate on essential subjects and learn to think for themselves, at Fairdale High School in Louisville (Kentucky). The accompanying interview with T. R. Sizer outlines this new direction in education. The most credible agent for change is a comparable school already involved. (SLD)

Explores the role of experience in educational change in a roundtable discussion with S. Nicolau, D. Davies, and D. Moore. A common thread is the vision of the school as a center of community life and a community of learners that includes students, parents, and teachers. (SLD)

Presents the views of a concerned citizen on reshaping U.S. schools in a peaceful, grass-roots revolution. Emphasis is on the neighborhood school, with parent participation, and a system that keeps students with the same teacher for multiple years. The human and technological resources that the approach requires are discussed. (SLD)

"Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools" describes the contrasts between rich and poor schools located within a few miles of each other. The author, Jonathan Kozol, claims that contrasts are due to inequitable funding; he would abolish the property tax and replace it with equitable funding for every child deriving from a…

Explores the current educational reform movement through its first and second waves. Progress to date is reviewed, and issues for future concern are discussed, including (1) outcomes-based education; (2) national testing; (3) the curriculum; (4) parental choice; and (5) urban schools. (SLD)

If those who work for school restructuring and those who advocate more diverse curricula could unite their constituencies, they would be a significant force. Politically, these two groups often work far too separately. Both curriculum and teaching must be revised to reflect the nation's pluralist national experience. (SLD)

Restructuring middle-level education calls for broad, fundamental, and multifaceted changes in schooling. Such changes must be based on a clear articulation of how early adolescents learn and supported by congruent practices and expectations. Forward-thinking middle schools stress interdisciplinary teaming, active learning, responsible…

Discusses interviews with black teachers who witnessed many reform initiatives to improve black students' academic achievement. The teachers challenged white, middle class perspectives on black community norms, cultural values, political realities, and community aspirations. Successful school reform must acknowledge and incorporate black community…

Presents a listing of ERIC documents and journal articles on public school choice as an area of education reform. Includes reports, policy arguments, and surveys of state laws and initiatives and national trends. Provides information for obtaining the listed documents. (DK)

After previous reform attempts failed, the radical restructuring of the Chicago (Illinois) Public Schools in 1988 has brought empowered principals, councils for shared power, and increased minority involvement in school governance. However, many participants cite various problems. Never the less, the reform effort has brought the Chicago community…

Parents are being invited to step in to help improve public education, but they enter with neither resources nor power. Real parental involvement requires commitment to organizing parents and restructuring schools, as well as inventing rich versions of diverse educational democracies of difference. Schools must function like meaningful…

Presents reflections of a former headmaster on the role of private schools and the importance of the choices they can provide. Proprietary schools that work say something visionary and hopeful even to public schools by illustrating the survival of multiple voices in a community. (SLD)

Describes the Yale School Development Program, which has been successful in improving urban schools because of its emphasis on systemic change, child development, and parent involvement. The program is a nine-element process model of three mechanisms, three operations, and three guidelines that replaces traditional organization and management.…

The Total Quality Management Theory of W. E. Deming can be adapted within an educational organization to build structures that support educators' beliefs. A case study of the implementation of Deming principles at the LeRoy Martin Middle School in Raleigh (North Carolina) illustrates the effectiveness of this management approach. (SLD)