Teaching students to act as citizens significantly enhances preparation for college and career. It is incumbent upon the National Council for the Social Studies to provide guidance to states and local districts to develop social studies standards to achieve this goal. The recommendations presented here focus on the principle that standards…

This report from the President of Oakton Community College (OCC) to the Board of Trustees presents and supports a recommendation to retain the college's interdisciplinary cluster system. Following introductory comments, the report discusses reasons for establishing a cluster college at the present, highlighting the benefits of this systems for…

As part of a reorganization study underway at Oakton Community College, this report presents the pros and cons of retaining the college's interdisciplinary learning clusters or moving to discipline-based divisions. Following introductory material, the report explains the methodology by which two representatives from each campus cluster, one…

The framework the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) lays out is that of quantifiably examining school performance and intervening in inverse proportion to success. Discusses five key challenges policymakers and educators must overcome to make the federal law work. (Author/MLF)

Traces the organizational history in Kentucky after the Department of Education was abolished by the Kentucky Educational Reform Act (KERA). Offers suggestions to other state legislators contemplating state department restructuring. Contends that "restructuring" turned out to be the same old process of bureaucratic adjustments practiced…

States should take an active and direct role in education reform: supporting school reform efforts, providing technical assistance, defining and controlling educational content, and assessing the outcomes of education. (MLF)

The social/political issues facing university English departments in South Africa include problems of identity and definition, the need for instruction within the context of social and political history, the problems of cultural relativism, the corrosive implications of Black subordination, and the complex alternatives of private and public…

Argues about the conclusion that bigger science departments are more productive than smaller ones. Indicates the conclusion cannot be supported by the data. (YP)

The parental right to select a child's school involves more than the option to choose nonpublic education. This document reviews a number of policy options availaable to public education systems for providing educational choice. Options at the state level include the use of education vouchers, subsidized transfer to selected schools, and…

When establishing statewide and nationally comparable educational evaluation and assessment systems, state education agencies (SEAs) must consider factors affecting policy in at least four areas. First, the full range of purposes for establishing such a system should be clarified. It must be decided whether the system exists to provide data for…

This report presents the plan for the Technology Integrated Educational Delivery System (TIEDS), which was developed for the Arizona State Department of Education in response to the "State Board Policy on the Development of a Plan for Technology" and the "GAITS Report," to establish the conceptual framework for educational…

State education agencies are in increasing agreement regarding the basic principles that should underlie state educational assessment programs, though some areas of divergent opinion remain. The agencies generally accept the ideas that comparisons between states will be made, that assessment programs should serve multiple purposes, that meaningful…

State Education Agencies (SEAs), in their pivotal role of representing the interests of both the public and the education establishment, must make constant reassessment of the directions which may be taken to improve education, and of the policy issues and options to be examined. These policy-level considerations can be brought into focus by…

Conventional wisdom on the nature of leadership in higher education is challenged in this collection of 12 essays. They are divided into three sections: (1) The Context; (2) New Leaders and New Models; and (3) Strategies and Resources. Chapters and authors include: "Leaders and Their Development" (Madeleine F. Green); "Toward a New Leadership…

This document presents recommendations to the state legislaturefor a unified higher education budget for the state of Alabama for fiscal year 2000-01. The first section of the report provides a summary of the budget recommendations, which increase higher education appropriations by 7.53 percent to approximately $860 million. This funding level…