Presents the first installment of a two-part interview with A. Graham Down, former president of the Council for Basic Education (CBE). His reflections on CBE's beginnings, the impact of the standards movement, and other matters illustrate the rationale for the CBE's enduring commitment to basic education and the path this organization has traveled…

Shows how a study of public art as reflected in current and historical photographs of school buildings provides a new lens for examining educational standards. Considers how using the principles and practices of contemporary public art, preservice teachers identified a number of the assumptions made about the built environments of their city…

This article reviews the literature on the contrasting-groups standard-setting method and describe 2 versions of the method--the person-focused version and the response-focused version. Of the 2, the response-focused version is preferable. it can be enhanced by adopting some practices of the modified Angoff method. (Contains 38 references.)…

Describes the English Language Arts Standards project, whose principal purpose is to develop content standards that set out how students best learn to speak, listen, write, and read effectively. Encourages feedback from educators around the country. (RS)

Describes four models of recognition of prior learning (PL): (1) procrustean--PL is made to match predetermined standards; (2) learning and development--PL approximates implicit academic standards; (3) radical--subjective knowledge is recognized as an alternative to dominant forms; and (4) Trojan-horse--PL is seen as socially constructed and…

Standards can help principals replace a rote educational approach with one that is purposeful, relevant, and engaging. To succeed, standards must become the school's common language, be linked with assessments, and create the curriculum. Standards demand collaboration, consensus, and ongoing professional development; stress principles over factual…

Describes geology department attitudes toward accreditation. Most departments would not currently welcome accreditation. Those persons currently neutral or uncertain about disciplinary accreditation should learn more about it and take a firm position. (Author/SAH)

This study indicates that most pharmacy programs utilize academic and nonacademic admission information sources and that they feel they are meeting the adopted American Council of Pharmaceutical Education Guideline 16.3 which requires that pharmacy programs use other than academic information sources in the admission process. (Author/JM)

Shares Susan Ohanian's criticism of educational standards and her explanations as to why a "one size fits all" curriculum meets the needs of few students. (ASK)

Describes how tougher academic standards, the "arms race" for better facilities, and other perennial topics took center stage at the National Collegiate Athletic Association's annual meeting. (EV)

Argues that instead of raising academic standards, high-stakes testing has weakened them. (PKP)

With the federal No Child Left Behind Act underscoring the wide variation in what states demand of their students, people on both sides of the political aisle are again making the case for national standards, curricula, and tests. It wasn't so long ago--during the Clinton and George H.W. Bush administrations--that similar proposals went down in…

Teachers often perceive an inherent conflict between "differentiated instruction," which emphasizes attention to variance in students' readiness levels, interests, and learning profiles, and "the grading system," which seems to indicate a sort of rigidity and standardization. This article examines key principles of quality…

When Chester E. Finn Jr.--already one of Washington's best-known education policy entrepreneurs--took charge of an unknown foundation in Dayton, Ohio, in 1997, the match quickly blossomed into a fruitful marriage. Drawing on a nearly $50 million endowment in need of a mission, Mr. Finn, in the decade since, has shaped the Thomas B. Fordham…

This article describes a polyhedra construction project that illustrates how one activity can address several of the mathematics content standards in the NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics.