This commentary suggests that a countermovement for educational and social justice must learn from the dominant global neo-liberal movement and its successes in creating institutions and knowledge-making processes and networks. Local struggles for educational justice are important, but they need to be linked to a broader educational justice…

In this article, the author observes how a combination of interrelated elements are currently changing the face of the civilizing traditions of the U.S. education and forming a new culture of childhood. These include: (1) the standardization of education; (2) the dissolution of traditional spontaneous play; and (3) the growing specter of poverty…

The Council for the Development of French in Louisiana, as part of its effort to revive French in Louisiana schools, arranged for a number of teachers from Belgium, France, and Quebec to assume teaching positions in that state. This report describes the experiences and attitudes of those teachers. Attitudes toward language maintenance, and…

Reviews antievolution curriculum legislation in the courts and the background of the Supreme Court's ruling that Louisiana's Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Act unconstitutionally advanced particular fundamentalist religious views. (MLF)

Describes Louisiana's "Black Americans in United States History" course which is designed to increase student knowledge of Black accomplishments and enhance student self-image through identification with past and present Blacks. Recommends using the inquiry method of instruction, giving special consideration to springboards and the group…

The rationale for the role of state educational agencies in certifying teachers, the National Teacher Examinations (NTE) program and the new NTE Core Battery are discussed. State certification in Arkansas, Florida and Oklahoma, Louisiana's consideration, and the District Court of South Carolina decision concerning NTE use for certification are…

Discusses the reintroduction of geography into national school curricula--specifically, Louisiana--as a consequence of the renewed emphasis on the mastery of basic academic subjects. Stresses the challenge of providing teacher training, teaching geography through concepts rather than facts, and makes recommendations for teaching world geography in…

Features two approaches to studying teenagers' interests and needs. Wisconsin involves multiple agencies in a communitywide teen assessment; Louisiana aims to make 4-H programing more responsive and current. Both emphasize the importance of gathering data directly from teenagers. (JOW)

Policy-making problems being faced in Louisiana regarding the testing of handicapped students within a state mandated minimum competency testing program are dealt with. The decision-making process is complicated by the fact that two groups (staff administering the test and staff administering programs for the handicapped) with differing…

Prepared by an intellectual freedom committee, this issue is intended to aid librarians in thinking about intellectual freedom when confronted with the current creationism controversy. A manual containing documents and resources on intellectual freedom, a bibliography of pro- and anti-creationism materials, and results of a censorship survey are…

Hurricane Katrina made landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 29, 2005. The author discusses the efforts she and other Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) colleagues made for the welfare of children who suffered from the storm. After her initial search for family, friends, and professional colleagues, she began trying…

Theme issue shares experiences of librarians who have done oral history projects in school, parish, and university libraries throughout Louisiana. Articles cover the roles of the library and of oral history, how to begin projects, and how to involve students in the production of tapes and their organization for retrieval. (CDD)

Human beings are in a constant ebb and flow; transcending boundaries at work and play, they learn, pray, and exist in an interdependent society. Given this reality, many practitioners, from kindergarten to college, have devised various methods of collaborative learning to meet the challenges of an increasingly diverse demographic and ethnographic…

The Louisiana Program Plan for the Administration of Vocational Education calls for assessing the state's progress in meeting the sex equity purposes of the Carl Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act and evaluating the effectiveness of programs and activities supported by the need for sex equity. Criteria for selecting sex equity…

This report begins with a brief overview of the types of libraries included in Louisiana's library infrastructure and a summary of the problems faced by these libraries. The major part of the report is made up of two-page profiles of each of the state's 64 parishes. Each profile contains a locational map; an economic summary; data on academic…