This booklet of academic standards spells out what students should know and be able to do in Grade 12 English/Language Arts. The booklet gives examples to help students understand what is required to meet the standards and provides parents with a list of 10 things they can do to help their child get a good education. It outlines the following…

This booklet contains the reflections of a lifelong educator. It examines American education over the last 35 years and focuses on those conditions that have most influenced education in the United States. The text opens with an analysis of the family, followed by a discussion of various legislative initiatives that were intended to nurture all…

This document presents a collection of strand maps that show how students' understanding of the ideas and skills that lead to literacy in science, mathematics, and technology might grow over time. The guide discusses strand maps in general and prose directly related to each individual map. The maps are built from benchmarks that were derived from…

This paper pursues the evolving relationships between Foucauldian understandings of surveillance (the disciplinary observation of the many by the few) and Debordian notions of spectacle (the disciplinary observation of the few by the many). It argues that education today must be understood according to a setting in which spectacle and surveillance…

This report summarizes the eighth survey of state directors of special education by the National Center on Educational Outcomes at the University of Minnesota. Results include all 50 states and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, American Samoa, and Palau. State directors report increased participation rates of students with disabilities in state…

This proceedings contains 25 presentations and summaries of presentations from the 22nd annual Rural and Small Schools Conference held at Kansas State University. Entries of three or more pages are: "Technical Education for Rural Kansas" (Ralph Beacham); "Galactic Explosion at Cool School" (summer science program) (Sue…

This activity guide, for Colorado teachers responsible for teaching geography to students in grades K-12, explains how to use the principles of contextual learning to integrate academic content standards with career development and workplace competencies. The introduction discusses the guide's purpose, the role of standards and assessments in the…

The infusion of workforce education into K-12 education may be detrimental to American students. American schools should not emphasize practical skills at the expense of academic skills. Academic standards should focus on academic content, not workplace competencies. The major impetus for transforming academic standards came in the 1990s when the…

This study addressed the question of whether new Regents graduation requirements and higher standards for grade promotion are leading to an increase in the dropout rate in New York City schools, examining data from previous research on similar issues. One study noted the impact of promotional Gates for grades 4 and 7 (part of promotional policy in…

This paper examines the work of the education inspectorates in England and Wales. It specifically addresses the inspectorates' articulation in the Labour Party's general policy shift toward standards-driven reform. The text states that the school inspectorates have been cast as uniquely powerful regulatory agencies within the public sector and are…

A study, begun in 1996, was designed to examine policy regarding implementing curriculum reform across the nation at the state, district, and school levels. This report presents findings from phase two of the three-phase research project. The second and third phases of the research project focus, respectively, on district- and school-level efforts…

The state universities of Michigan, like their counterparts across the United States, are suffering from a general erosion of academic standards and a radical politicization of the undergraduate curriculum. An important dimension of this problem is the effect on K-12 education in Michigan. Poor student performance and poor teacher preparation are…

Assessment and accountability have played prominent roles in many reform efforts during the past 50 years. This digest reviews features of assessment and accountability that influence the trustworthiness of information provided and impacts educational practices and student learning. It discusses reform based on assessment and accountability,…

This report is the fourth in a series that tracks the attitudes of African Americans and the general public in the area of education. The 1999 poll was a survey of 1,678 adults, conducted in May 1999. The survey's questions cover a broad range of topics, including politics, education, crime and criminal justice policy, the 2000 Census,…

This report presents findings from a forum held in 2000 with urban educators representing 15 districts nationwide. The forum, which was facilitated by educational researchers from Columbia University's Teachers College, shared best practices for reforming high poverty urban high schools and reviewed the Department of Education's "Transforming…