Governors are united in their commitment to improve America's high schools. Nationwide, only 71 percent of students graduate from high school, and only 18 percent of high school freshmen go on to complete a college degree on time. Deficits in basic skills cost colleges, businesses, and underprepared high school graduates as much as $16 billion…

The author talks about graduation ceremonies getting out of hand, wherein graduates misbehave and act without proper decorum. Here, she presents the graduation ceremony at Plainfield High School as an example, when students bounced inflated condoms among their ranks. News of the resulting chaos was plastered in headlines in Chicago-area…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Senate Committee Reports Education Spending Bill: Senate Appropriations Bill Continues Cuts to Education Funding;…

This article presents a case study of a single incident involving a high school student who brought a "tennis ball" bomb to school. Although the district had recently created a safety plan, with a specific protocol for the discovery of a bomb in the building, the principal and the crises team ignored it. The principal did not refer to…

The development of secondary education in the United States since the beginning of the present century has been truly remarkable. Public high-school enrollment increased by 257 per cent in the 20 years between 1900 and 1920. An increase of 53 per cent was reported in only six years (from 1916 to 1922). Legal provisions now exist for the…

During March of 1920, by resolution of the Board of Education of Wilmington, Delaware, a committee of 30 citizens of the city was appointed to make a survey of the public schools and of the system of education of the city. The executive committee was directed to prepare a plan or program to be followed in making the investigation and survey and to…

The federal requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) have placed a new focus on increasing graduation rates and reducing dropout rates. While the dropout problem has generated research and new programs over the last 30 years, the dropout rate has remained relatively unchanged. Students drop out of school for many reasons, and the…

This case is about the clash between traditional community values and multicultural values in the context of same-sex couples at a high school prom. Within this context, a new principal must deal with competing personal and professional values, as well as the competing divergent views of district level administrators, school board members,…

After reviewing the controversy over traditional grading systems, the pros and cons of various grading systems, and recent practices in reporting and marking pupil progress, this report presents the results of a survey in which 341 districts responded about their reporting and marking practices. The results are broken down by the size of the…

The school legislation of the two-year period here under review comprises the most recent enactments of all the States, since all legislatures met within the period, and six States--Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Georgia--whose lawmakers meet annually, held two meetings of their respective legislative…

Through what seems to be a very wise adaptation of methods of support and administration to schools of different kinds and to schools working under varying conditions in different parts of the State, but still preserving a high degree of correlation and unity of purpose, and by a commendable degree of liberality in expenditures for education, the…

This bulletin presents the statistics of public high schools, revealing as far as possible the direct bearing of the data collected on current secondary school problems. To accomplish this end the presentation, necessarily, is divided into two fields: First, that making historical comparisons, and second, that showing present conditions. The first…

The purpose of this manual is to place in the hands of the educational committees of the 44 State legislatures that convene in 1919, a suggestive program of educational legislation based upon the present emergency in our national life. Each topic discussed falls, as a rule, under three distinct heads: (1) Historic background; (2) Summary of…

On December 17, 1920, the President of the board of school commissioners inquired concerning the possibility of having a survey of the public schools made under the direction of the United States Commissioner of Education. The conditions named were met by the board at a special meeting held on December 30, and an appropriation of $5,000 was made…

The trend of educational development is toward the State board of education as the administrative head of the educational system. In 37 of the 48 States in the United States there are State boards of education with functions relative to the public schools; in one other, Minnesota, there is a State board with functions relative to the public high…