In "Rules for a Flat World", Hadfield delivers a paradigm-shifting wakeup call about law coming up short in today's world and proposes creating markets for legal rules to enable the development of broad-based legal infrastructure that can meet current and future demand. I am less confident that markets are the preferred pattern for the…

Former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift became president of the education innovation organization LearnLaunch in July 2019. In 1998, Swift was elected lieutenant governor of Massachusetts. Three years later, when Governor Paul Cellucci resigned to become U.S. ambassador to Canada, Swift became the youngest female governor in U.S. history. Besides…

In the last issue of "American Educator," several scholars argued in favor of a common core curriculum. By common core, they meant that the curriculum should be broadly adopted (enabling improvements in instructional materials, student tests, and teacher training), but also limited (preserving instructional time for districts, schools,…

This article presents the Belem Framework for Action. This framework focuses on harnessing the power and potential of adult learning and education for a viable future. This framework begins with a preamble on adult education and towards lifelong learning.

This article looks at charter schools from the perspective of distributive justice. It suggests three principles of distributive justice that should be satisfied by schools: the adequacy principle, the equity principle, and the communicative principle. "It also sketches the justice argument for charter schools and uses the three principles to…

This paper focuses on school choice and the extent to which admissions to publicly-funded secondary schools in England address issues of equity and social justice. It argues that schools with responsibility for their own admissions are more likely than others to act in their own self interest by "selecting in" or "creaming"…

Excellence in education might best be achieved if a wide variety of educational options were made available to satisfy the broad diversity of student needs, if parents were allowed free choice among schools, and if parents, teachers, and principals worked together to make each school responsive to its unique constituency. (PGD)

Legal and educational trends necessitate close collaboration between teachers and lawyers. Effective collaboration is early, ongoing, and in-depth. It requires understanding of structural arrangements, political influences, interprofessional communication techniques, and negative attitudes. (SK)

This article examines California's system of school governance. The article's overarching concern is how state structures and policies support or constrain the capacity of schools to deliver an adequate and equal education. Specifically, I address the following questions: Who is responsible for ensuring that the state's schools have adequate…

The author discusses equal access to schooling, inequities in educational legislation, the responsibility of educators and their relationship with the community, the effective schools movement, and the question of governance. (CT)

This article focuses on the extent to which the legislative framework and education-funding models applicable to school education in South Africa post-1994 have, in attempting to address historical inequalities, resulted in a particular form of privatisation of public education. The article sets out the extent of the autonomy available to all…

As the stewards of America's colleges and universities, trustees have a central role to play in the struggle for a more diverse and equitable educational experience for all Americans. This means encouraging better student preparation, improving racial balance on campus, broadening the curriculum, and establishing an environment for tolerance.…

Several reforms recently proposed for secondary schools and their impact on students and schools are discussed. One type of reform being proposed for secondary schools is aimed at students and at the schools' power to make sorting judgments about students. Examples of these reforms are differentiated diplomas, minimal competency tests for…

In this report, Connecticut's Task Force on Charter Schools recommends enacting legislation to establish six pilot charter schools to begin operation in fall 1994. As public schools or educational programs operating under a State Board of Education charter, charter schools would be: committed to quality student outcomes; staffed and controlled by…

The philosophy upon which this monograph is based is the belief that one of the responsibilities of the schools is to prepare all youth to become active and well-informed participants in a democratic society. Alternatives and options are recommended for improving the school curriculum, governance, teacher effectiveness, testing, discipline, and…