A required core contemporary history course is proposed for Europe's senior pupils, needed because of prospects for European integration. The course could be shaped by pairing three fundamental ideas with related conflicts: Reformation/30 Years War, Enlightenment/French Revolution and Napoleanic Wars, and Nationalism/World Wars I and II. (IAH)

This article describes the report of the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, which enunciates principles of a new model of college sports governance. Ten recommendations include total authority given to college presidents, who should ensure program compliance with federal statutes barring sex discrimination; and review of…

Discussion of high school graduation requirements for students with disabilities focuses on legal and practical issues including graduation standards, minimum competency testing, and termination of services. Recommendations are offered to help school districts establish a process for graduating students with disabilities within the legal framework…

Philadelphia schools were the first to engage all 200,000 K-12 students in meaningful service-learning activities aligned with district academic standards and learning goals. This has meant providing professional development for 6,000 teachers, forging partnerships with 2,500 community experts and agencies, and developing an efficient evaluation…

Main trends and developments in British graduate study in the last decade are examined, including establishment of organizational structures to reduce graduate student isolation; graduate curriculum development; concern with completion rates; and issues surrounding quality of graduate courses, especially through academic audit and teaching quality…

The verdict in the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) case undermined the concept of educational equity by equating it with sameness. Testimony was excluded that revealed bureaucratic processes creating new inequities: overemphasis on test preparation and manipulation of students' grade level designations to artificially improve…

A Sacramento County district successfully combines rigorous standards with civic values and service learning, requires both algebra and geometry, and helps students pass the high school exit exam. The community has been involved in raising standards and developing accelerated learning programs at all 29 elementary schools. (MLH)

Discusses implications of states' requiring use of high school graduation exams. Finds testing requirements already blocking thousands of students from getting diplomas required for college admission, and complicating colleges' efforts to recruit black and Hispanic students. At the same time college officials praise tests for helping ensure that…

Examines whether employers can infer information about workers' precollege abilities from acquired college credentials and value attainment of credentials because they signal these abilities. Analysis of 1993 National Longitudinal Study of Youth data reveals that employers value attainment of a bachelor's degree for these reasons. Academic degrees…

Examines the roles of race, ethnicity, and academic skills in predicting whether high school students will persist along the path into teaching, noting that the challenge of creating a diverse teaching force is increasing minority youths' high school graduation, college enrollment, and college graduation rates. High school sophomores' career…

Two groups of students enrolled in Georgia technical college diploma programs were studied: one group matriculated in fall 1992 (n=9,463) and a second group matriculated in fall 1997 (n=12,467). Z?scores and logistic regression were used to determine differences and relationships in attrition, completion, and graduation rates before and after the…

It is a well-known but highly misunderstood fact that Black and Hispanic students who start out at community colleges are less likely to earn a bachelor's degree with six years than their White or Asian peers. In this article, the author discusses several factors that account for this trend: (1) Black and Hispanic students who start their…

The author talks about graduation ceremonies getting out of hand, wherein graduates misbehave and act without proper decorum. Here, she presents the graduation ceremony at Plainfield High School as an example, when students bounced inflated condoms among their ranks. News of the resulting chaos was plastered in headlines in Chicago-area…

This study examined European American, Latino, Asian American, and Native American parental involvement and their children's high school completion. An examination of how different family structures have an influence on a student's education was conducted. This study used the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) of 1988 and utilized a…

Race-conscious affirmative action in higher education survived a close challenge in 2003 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that race was a valid academic admission criteria in the "Grutter v. Bollinger" case. Two years later, a number of "pipeline" programs to help under-represented minorities gain admission to and complete graduate school have…