Educational leaders in the United States are faced with a society seeking instantaneous perfection, immediate and perfect solutions. In education, this leads to a demand for push-button administration and an abandonment of trust in educators' judgment. As exemplified by the No Child Left Behind Act (2002), the search for quick fixes results in…

Schools struggle to accurately assess nonnative speakers of English using accountability systems that somehow do not capture the complexity of the issues at hand. This article discusses topics surrounding the assessment of English language learners and how these issues have been oversimplified by such processes as the No Child Left Behind…

Discusses two educational issues: the constitutionality of competency-based education and the compatibility between this policy and contemporary scientific thought. The author presents her personal views on competency-based education and discusses the need for educational accountability on the part of teachers and other educational professionals.…

Examines the fundamental points established by case law in the area of search and seizure of property of public school students. Federal and state court cases are analyzed; and a review of the literature establishes additional points of emphasis. (CT)

Identifies some educational policies that are not separable from legal policies or principles and some that are; raises questions about some others; and speculates about future directions. Urges the development of higher levels of "legal literacy" and suggests that schools of education are the appropriate places to begin. (JOW)

Reviews past attempts to restructure U.S. education, effects of competency-based education, and the role of teacher certification. Considers the impact of federal legislation concerning certification. (SK)

Mandatory attendance laws have been justified on the basis of their necessity for effective citizen participation in a democracy and protection of children from permanent and substantial harm. Critics argue that mandatory schooling should be replaced with mandatory education laws. (SK)

Asserts that existing accountability policies assume that a single behaviorist theory is the one best system for effective education. Examines the pitfalls of the one-system approach through the examples of John Stuart Mill's utilitarian upbringing and "Gradgrindism" in Charles Dickens' novel "Hard Times." (SK)

Twenty-three Kappa Delta Pi Laureates describe the primary educational developments of the 20th century. Commonly cited milestones include the Supreme Court's Brown v Board of Education decision, federal financial aid, the works of Dewey and Freire, technology, the GI Bill, Head Start, progressive education, centralization and decentralization,…

The author makes a personal statement about nuclear war, democracy, the importance of the family unit, travel, social action, the needs of learners, curriculum development, and knowledge. (CT)

The Departments of Defense and Education have collaborated in pilot projects to help military personnel make the transition to teaching. Federal legislation supporting alternative teacher certification is also contributing to this effort. (SK)

Traces the roots of outcome-based education in mastery learning. Considers such obstacles as lack of reform preconditions, poor understanding of program features, teacher resistance, teacher domestication, staff mobility, and routinization. (SK)

Court litigation, state legislation, school board policy, and public opinion clash over sex education in public schools. However, rising teen pregnancy rates and AIDS make the availability of uncensored health and sex information in schools a necessity. (SK)

California's Bilingual Theoretical Framework, an attempt to establish "one best system" for educating language minority students, sets up self-fulfilling prophecies that hinder monolingual teachers' effectiveness. A chronic shortage of bilingual teachers and an influx of low-incidence language minorities create a need to move beyond the…

Historical overview considers the role of transportation in education before 1954, when school busing was used to improve education by consolidating rural schools and centralize effort in urban schools, and after the 1954 Supreme Court decision that racially segregated schools were inherently unequal. Different attitudes toward forced busing are…