Levine notes that education has declined as a national priority. He appeals to the next U.S. president to champion quality education in America, addressing the achievement gap by focusing on teachers. He urges that the nation dignify the teaching profession, restoring its prestige through the equivalent of a Rhodes Scholarship program for teachers…

Six suggestions for improving education in the country are offered. The case is made first that unless children's health care is improved, educational achievement among the poor will not improve. The second point is that poverty limits school achievement as well. Without work on these two issues, neither the nation nor the nation's schools will be…

Back in 1982, as New Jersey's commissioner of education, the author of this paper made several recommendations to then-Governor Thomas H. Kean concerning teachers. These ideas, all of which the governor embraced, stirred controversy but also put the state on cutting edge of school reform. The ideas were important because they recognized, in a…

The economic theory of comparable worth is discussed as it is applied to the issue of teacher salaries and instructional quality. It is argued that application of the theory may be a cause of rather than a solution to some current problems of teacher shortages, teacher education, and productivity. (MSE)

The essays in this collection provide contrasting points of view on a number of community college issues that have become more pressing during periods of economic constraint. The volume contains: (1) "Part-Time Faculty: The Value of the Resource," by William R. C. Munsey; (2) "Part-Time Faculty, Full-Time Problems," by David Hartleb and William…

The National Commission on Excellence in Education found mathematics and science programs to be deteriorating and saw an existing shortage of qualified teachers of these subjects. Many of the Commission's solutions are expected to meet with resistance from the Reagan administration and from teachers' unions. (MLF)

Jay Sommer, the only teacher on the 18-member National Commission on Excellence in Education, is interviewed regarding the commission's report ("A Nation At Risk"). Sommer asks teachers to rededicate themselves to their profession, not for any external reward, but because their renewed enthusiasm is needed by a foundering public…

Adam Smith's discussion of the payment modes of teachers and resulting consequences for the quality of teaching and process of curricular innovation are reviewed through the conceptual lens of modern agency theory. Smith's analysis of higher education in his day (eighteenth century) sheds light on faculty incentive and assessment problems that…

Since education is lifelong, linking teachers' salary and benefits to students' learning levels marks a novel approach to quantifying instructor ability. Adult Americans need to be asked how they feel about the education they received, and the teachers under whom they studied. (MLW)

Suggests three priorities and four goals for education. Priorities: literacy, basic mathematics, and citizenship education. Goals: high school graduates will have four years of English and three years of math, science, and social studies; graduates will surpass SAT/ACT scores of 1965; dropout rate will decrease; and entry-level teachers' salaries…

Reviews the history of the two teachers' unions, presenting the differences and rivalry between the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. Details their differing responses to the current "excellence" movement. (MD)

Regulation and legislation make the role of the classroom teacher more bureaucratic. Legislators can contribute to the improvement of education by policy analysis and by making teacher salaries more competitive with the alternatives available to competent people. (MLF)

Discusses a book by James E. Levine on "Day Care and the Public Schools, Profiles of Five Communities." Criticizes Levine's approach as emphasizing quantity and low cost and giving little attention to quality. (GC)

Argues that if President George W. Bush is interested in improving the educational system, he should address the real problem (disproportionately low wages for teachers) like a good businessman would do: by raising teachers' salaries significantly in order to draw the most talented people. (SR)

The importance of education for prosperity is beyond dispute. A nation or a state whose people are educated and industrious will prosper. Such social forces as the rise of private schooling, disenchantment with public education, and the aging of the population drain public education of its support. If educational quality has a cost, the…