The recent review of Australian Curriculum represents an opportunity to significantly change the teaching of primary mathematics in Australia and perhaps elsewhere. The current curriculum document presents content in a linear and compartmentalized manner that dominates its structure and doesn't explicitly accentuate the links and connections found…

This author contends that contemporary issues classes no longer have currency, as standardized test results are the litmus test for education. In many schools, students are isolated from firsthand accounts and formal study of events that textbooks will one day proclaim as defining experiences of their generation. According to Doyle, schools tend…

The standards for technological literacy developed by the International Technology Education Association focus on what students in grades K-12 need to know and be able to do. The content standards have five categories: nature of technology, technology and society, design, abilities for a technological world, and the designed world. (JOW)

Uses the example of New York State to illustrate how the rancorous political debate over education can render national standards irrelevant and contradictory. In appeasing so many factions the standards become inclusive to the point of obfuscation. Provides a brief overview of the controversy concerning national standards. (MJP)

Controversy surrounds the recently released voluntary national standards for U.S. history and world history. At the center of the debate is the issue of how history should be portrayed. Directions for ordering copies of the history standards and sample passages from the standards guidebooks are provided in sidebars to the article. (MLF)

This article explores the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) on the behavior of teachers and school leaders, specifically the centralizing, standardizing tendencies of the legislation, and juxtaposes their reactions to the types of teaching and leadership required to lead 21st-century schools. The authors argue that the isomorphic…

Identifying key concepts and making those concepts meaningful is critical in constructing a preschool curriculum. Establishing national standards for content in early childhood education may help guide teachers in constructing curriculum, but teachers must know each child and the total group to turn specified standards for content into meaningful…

According to a growing body of research, discussion-based instruction, in the context of high academic demands, significantly enhances student achievement in reading. The effects apply to below- as well as above-average-ability students. These findings confirm what secondary English teachers have believed all along about the value of discussion.…

Economic factors in education are among the important causes of poor student performance. The time that students must work to support themselves has increased greatly to the extent that students are stretched thin between their desire to graduate as rapidly as possible and their need to have an income. (MLW)

Argues that the focus of foreign-language instruction needs to be on students learning to become more efficient in using another language. This focus means charting each student's progress along the continuum of proficiency from novice to intermediate to advanced levels, not just checking off a list of what has been taught from the curriculum. (CK)

Suggests that over-emphasis on race and gender are dragging down standards at U.S. colleges and universities and taking minority students with them, noting that academically unchallenging classes harm African American students. Describes how one college professor emailed such an opinion to a student, who passed it on to others and created great…

Suggesting that a separate accreditation criterion for visual literacy proposed for journalism and mass communication schools is insufficient and inappropriate, this paper proposes that the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) develop and support a program promoting visual literacy as a curriculum standard.…

Argues that all instructors, regardless of field, share responsibility for improving students' writing skills. Advocates (1) establishing academic objectives for all students to meet by the end of their college career, (2) requiring essays and papers, rather than objective tests, and (3) requiring effective writing in every course. (DD)

Describes the progress made in Northern Ireland toward the introduction of GCSE science curricula in postprimary schools. Documents the move from separate courses in chemistry, physics, and biology to integrated science courses. (DDR)

Focuses on further education (FE) in Great Britain and describes the nature of science education within the program. Describes the Spotlight on Science project which focuses on chemistry, physics, and biology. (DDR)