Results-based school accountability has been the linchpin of education reform in the United States for at least two decades. But the COVID-19 pandemic led many schools, states, and districts to put their testing and accountability programs on hold. Chester E. Finn, Jr., argues that it is time for the accountability holiday to end and makes…

This report presents key findings from "Learning in the Fast Lane: The Past, Present, and Future of Advanced Placement," by Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Andrew E. Scanlan, and published by Princeton University Press in 2019. American education has long been plagued by excellence gaps among the young people who make it into the highest levels…

The author asserts that nothing is wrong with American education that cannot be fixed, but we need to set the proper tasks, provide an acceptable level of resources, and insist upon quality. He offers 12 prescriptions for improving education. (Author)

Discusses how the charter school movement is having systemic effects on U.S. education, examining eight important issues that, when resolved, may make charter schools valued community institutions and spur K-12 education to reinvent itself. Surmounting the eight challenges would keep charter schools in the center stage of the education reform…

It is time for national scrutiny of the quality of higher education. Some indictments of higher education include: unqualified students; diluted standards, coddled faculty, little scholarly research, no quality control, inadequate measures of performance, declining academic freedom, and self-righteousness. (MLW)

Catholic educational leaders can play a key role in the current quest for educational excellence by reaching out in friendship and cooperation to other sectors of American education. Discusses reasons why Catholic leaders have not participated in the past and how they might become more usefully, constructively, and effectively involved. (DMM)

Reviews the history of the two teachers' unions, presenting the differences and rivalry between the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. Details their differing responses to the current "excellence" movement. (MD)

Three summary judgments are rendered including many students are emerging from higher education without satisfactory intellectual skills and knowledge; higher education institutions aren't as efficient or productive as they should be; and the leaders of higher education have either misdiagnosed what its problems are or are trying to mislead…

This report presents the testimony of the president and program director of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Based in Washington, DC and in Dayton, the Institute is a nonprofit organization that supports research, publications, and action projects of national significance in elementary/secondary reform, as well as significant education reform…

American society and culture is seen as being in an educational reform movement. Fresh ideas, renewed commitment to educational standards, rising expectations for teacher competence and student performance, impatience with trendy innovations and flabby practices, and a faith in the importance of high quality education are discussed. (MLW)

Reformist and spending approaches are complementary strategies for improving teacher quality. In successful school reform, principals must become CEOs of their schools, with each school accountable for academic results. Successful schools should be rewarded, and failing schools need intervention. Discusses: certification of bad teachers; false…

Describes the origins, grievances, and strategies of the educational excellence movement that Ron Edmonds helped to catalyze. Sees the movement as decentralized, led by lay people and concerned with higher standards for all. Argues that the movement is fueled by public discontent of the past two decades. (RDN)

A panel of eight educators responds to the National Commission on Excellence in Education's recommendations that all students be required to take four years of English; three years of mathematics, science, and social studies; and one-half year of computer science. (MLF)

In 1992, the National Assessment of Educational Progress will assess math skills at fourth- and eighth-grade levels and reading skills among fourth graders. For the first time, the process will be designed to compare states. The historical background, rationale, and expected benefits of this new approach are summarized. Includes six references.…

This article argues that students are not receiving a high quality social studies education and are not being prepared for citizenship in a democracy; that the most serious failings of social studies courses are conceptual, philosophical, and ideological, and that what social studies experts want students to learn is not what parents and other…