This special issue journal on the politics of urban education contains the following articles: (1) "The Politics of Urban Education as a Field of Study: An Interpretive Analysis" (K. K. Wong); (2) "Urban Education as a Field of Study: Problems of Knowledge and Power" (J. G. Cibulka); (3) "Knowledge and Power in Research into the Politics of Urban…

Arguing that the multitude of federal, state and local laws governing the California Community Colleges (CCC) drains the system's capacity to serve students seeking educational opportunity, this paper examines how the state's colleges came to be micro-managed and offers possible solutions. Part I provides a history of laws and structures governing…

Demographic and social changes, increasing economic interdependence, and educational reform movements are causing major changes in vocational education. Essential work force skills and the standards to account for their achievement are being debated. The 1980s'"Excellence Movement" focused on strengthening academic requirements,…

Colorado schools are undergoing a major transformation. Local communities are organizing around their schools and developing action plans to reach the state's educational goals. The 1992 report on K-12 education contains information about Colorado's efforts to implement four strategies: educational accountability; high expectations and standards…

This position paper was prepared by the New Futures Collaborative, a group of community leaders concerned with improving outcomes for at-risk youth and families in the Dayton (Ohio) community. It is evident that for some individuals, there has been a value shift and devaluation of human life. A small but growing number of youth are committing…

This paper critically examines the rhetoric of the effective schools and school-based management (SBM) models for educational reform as they relate to an ongoing schoolwide demonstration project to enhance children's motivation and learning. The demonstration project, also called "the coalition," was adopted at one elementary and one…

The keynote addresses introduced conference participants both to general perspectives on school choice and to a specific focus on Maryland issues, concerns, and problems. In the panel discussion, four educational administrators discussed particular aspects of choice plans in their own subdivisions in different states. In the six discussion groups,…

This publication presents compilations and an overview of state profiles describing Chapter 1 program improvement and innovation efforts across the states. Chapter 1 is a provision of the federal Hawkins-Stafford Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendments of 1988. This report reviews key aspects of implementation of the 1988 Amendments…

The main problems facing city school districts as recognized by urban school leaders, school boards, superintendents, and school administrators are described and forecast. Results are based on an August 1992 survey of the leadership of the Council of the Great City Schools (GCS) about enrollment trends, supply and demand of teachers, financial…

The school improvement process of the Springfield (Massachusetts) Public School System is offered as a model for school reform. The efforts in Springfield began from the premise that institutions do not reform themselves, and that pressure from the outside, enough to be noticed, but not enough to disrupt, was necessary to spur reform. The work in…

Originally published in 1984, this book has been re-issued with a new and timely introduction and an index. Its six chapters provide a framework for viewing schools and teachers' roles within those schools and serve as a springboard for discussion about how to restructure schools and in what direction. Chapter 1, "The Social Realities of…

The Georgia League of Professional Schools is a school and university collaborative formed to support school renewal. It currently includes 54 elementary and secondary schools and the University of Georgia. Schoolwide action research is simply cooperative disciplined inquiry within a framework that provides some structures for working together.…

From 1976 to 1983 major reforms were enacted in Chile in the vocational training systems, based on four principles: decentralization, integration, diversification, and participation. The vocational training system in Chile is a legally established, market-oriented system in which many private training agencies compete to sell their services to…

When the Ontario (Canada) Ministry of Education launched the Transition Years initiatives, it argued that certain aspects of school practice deserved special attention: student assessment, recording, and reporting practices; teacher inservice education; school and classroom organization; school-community relationships; core curriculum; curriculum…

The Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) of 1990 has given educators the authority as well as the responsibility for improving educational practices within their schools. A study group of five Kentucky teachers assisted by the Kentucky Education Association and the Appalachia Educational Laboratory was formed to research the extent and uses of…