Examines why instructional, curricular, and political reforms return again and again. Rejects the common explanation that reforms fail because of a lack of rational proposals and implementation, and suggests political and institutional causes. (FMW)

Dynamic teachers and principals have gone past the slogans of reform to achieve outstanding results with at-risk students, and their pioneering work points to promising directions for others. (Author/TE)

High school teaching practices have resisted change since 1900 and remain essentially teacher centered. This stability may be explained by: (1) the deterministic influence of classroom organizational structures; (2) innate conservatism in teaching; (3) teachers' enduring beliefs about educational goals; and (4) society's economic structure which…

After a 16-year absence from the public school classroom, an education professor returned for a semester to teach American history to an eleventh-grade class. He recounts four lessons concerning the need for classroom order, student motivation, teacher efficiency, alternative student grouping arrangements, and student feedback about teaching…

Reviews the history of secondary science curriculum reform and presents an organizational and curricular framework for discussing why reformers committed to creating a science for living have difficulty altering prevailing patterns. Examines the influence of district, school, and classroom organization upon what curriculum is actually taught and…

Although there is a renewed interest in having reasoning skills taught in schools, current methods of organizing, staffing, and governing classrooms retard the teaching of critical thought. The limited impact of progressive educational reforms, an earlier movement for critical thinking, is assessed. Needed policy and research directions to improve…