Clothing is a primary form of gang-member identification. School boards that seek to revise dress-code policy on gang attire need to make certain they can justify their steps so that students' right to freedom of expression and the need for a safe school environment can coexist. Reviews five court cases and offers guidelines. (MLF)

In "Castorina," the Sixth Circuit reversed a lower court ruling that had dismissed a suit by two high school students challenging their suspension for wearing T-shirts adorned with the Confederate flag. Reviews three Supreme Court decisions about the regulation of student expression. Concludes that a consensus for the regulation of…

The Equal Access Act of 1984 was drafted to implement access for religious clubs to public secondary schools, but with constitutionally protected safeguards to preclude entanglement of church and state. A number of challenges were made on the constitutional grounds of excessive entanglement of church and state, as well as what the definition of…

This report is intended to help state education policymakers expand their comprehension of how race, culture, language, gender, and socioeconomic status have an impact on teaching and learning and influence the school experience. The report calls for: multiculturalism in education; broad cultural inclusion; and consideration of every facet of the…

This report concerning the Louisiana social studies program begins with the process of analyzing and evaluating the current state of affairs in social studies education with a view toward reform. After the introduction, general sections follow to define social studies and to provide a historical and philosophical perspective on the social studies.…

School improvement cannot be negotiated. In many educational circles, negotiation carries a negative connotation that creates a perception of adversaries, causing trust levels between participants to decline. Decisions made in an atmosphere of adversarial relationships between teacher unions and school boards are not always the productive…

Acknowledging major reform reports that name reading, writing, speaking, and listening as the most essential skills in the work of any school, this brochure discusses important first steps for school boards pursuing excellence in the language arts. These concrete suggestions are grouped under five broad directives: (1) declare that the highly…

This study of the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) was conducted to provide a basis for the comprehensive restructuring of the VCCS system offices and for the reduction of staffing levels. Part I provides background on the study, and its limitations, assumptions, and procedures. Part II outlines the purpose of the VCCS system offices and…

This report, the second of a two-volume work, was prepared in response to the 1979 edition of the Massachusetts Board of Education's "Regulations for the Certification of Educational Personnel." Specific sections of the regulations are set off in boxes, each of which is followed by explanations of the ways in which the program addresses…

This report concludes that the house plan should be the centerpiece of a systematic restructuring of New York City neighborhood high schools to reduce the dropout rate and improve academic achievement. The house plan is based on the subdivision of one or more grades into smaller schools within schools. Long-term monitoring of New York City dropout…

A series of proposals is presented to create a system of governance for the California community colleges and to define the respective responsibilities of the state Board of Governors and local governing boards. First, background information is presented, underscoring the need to create a system with greater authority to govern. This section…

This report documents the impact of current educational reform movements and fiscal conservatism on urban school districts and profiles district operations and activities using survey results from 61 urban school districts constituting 84% of the National School Boards Association Council of Urban Boards of Education. The statistical data falls…

This case study examines the development and implementation of secondary education policy in Ontario as defined in "Ontario Schools: Intermediate and Senior Divisions (OSIS)--1984." Data were gathered for the period from 1980 when the Secondary Education Review Project (SERP) was initiated, to 1984 when the policy outlined in OSIS was to…

This handbook, structured to facilitate use by policy makers, practitioners, school board members and school staff, contains three parts. Part I presents practical information and an action plan for implementing school improvement and delinquency prevention measures. Chapters 1 and 2 focus on how delinquency affects the U.S. educational system,…

Recent criticism of public education has led to demands for educational improvement. Responses to this criticism include the development of minimum competency tests (MCTs) and calls for increased academic requirements. This paper reviews a national survey of state graduation requirements that reveals a wide variance in requirements. Eighteen…