Students in cooperative classrooms encourage their teammates to do well because they also benefit. (MLF)

Argues for less standardization and more diversification in public education. Responds to several common concerns about diversification: Loss of the common school, inequality, lack of curriculum coherence, and problems in rural settings. Asserts that parents should be allowed to select among several meaningful options for their children's…

In this interview, teaching models are rejected for their formulaic, inflexible approach to inculcating cognitive skills. Instead, teachers need to understand the logic of their subject matter and should master a set of pedagogical skills to use as necessary. Includes one reference. (MLH)

George Wilkinson, who has managed planning for United Way of America since 1980, observes that local planners using strategic planning raise more money and solve more community problems than those without such a process. Marketing is identical to strategic planning; both involve looking at an organization, doing and analysis, examining the future,…

California's top educator talks about education and politics. (Author)

When he was director of alternative schools and deputy superintendent of New York City's District Four in the 1970s and 1980s, Seymour Fliegel created a districtwide free choice plan and a nationally recognized network of 24 alternative concept schools. In this interview, Fliegel argues the merits of choice and suggests ways for schools to…

Reviews learning strategies articles appearing in the same "Educational Leadership" issue. Most authors do not argue for teaching learning strategies apart from regular course content and present techniques (summary writing, elaboration, and graphic representation) that can be used in many different applications. In contrast, the Hunter model is…

In this interview, Madeline Hunter discusses her teaching model, supervision, merit pay, career ladders, her career, and other subjects. (DCS)

Stuart Rankin, Assistant Superintendent for Research, Planning, and Evaluation of the Detroit, Michigan, Public Schools, talks about creativity in educational planning. (Author/MLF)

Describes the planning cycle being used in the Lincoln, Nebraska, schools and explains the role of staff development in the total program improvement model. (Author/IRT)

As codirector of Harvard University's Project Zero, David Perkins has conducted long-term research programs on creativity, problem solving and reasoning, and learning in the arts, sciences, and everyday life. He explains a new program designed to help teachers connect thinking strategies with subject matter, so that students can better manage…

Summarizes one expert's structural approach to cooperative learning, including its positive effects on social behavior and race relations. Structural techniques such as "numbered heads together" help foster both positive interdependence and individual accountability. The conventional individualistic orientation can be very adaptive, but is also…

The editor of ASCD's "Interdisciplinary Curriculum: Design and Implementation," Heidi Hayes Jacobs, has worked with hundreds of schools to discover best curriculum planning practices. She finds doing too much at once and forcing subject overlaps the biggest obstacles to interdisciplinary curriculum planning. Moving to standardized…

The superintendent of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, school district discusses the school improvement plan he has implemented in the Pittsburgh schools since 1981. (MD)

When parents neglect their children's moral education and community influences are negative, schools need to form partnerships and work for change. This article reviews problems encountered when schools attempt to inculcate or clarify moral values and summarizes various authors' opinions on the subject. (MLH)