Flexibility is a key term to emphasize when grouping students for instruction, since a student might be in a different group for one academic area as compared to another academic area. This paper describes grouping for different methods of reading instruction and other disciplines. The paper discusses the following: using basal readers, using…

Examines the relationship between social class and curriculum organization. It is suggested that the inquiry and critical thinking elements of social studies curricula share a style of social control most extensively attempted in the 1970s open classroom movement. (AM)

Few educators understand the exact nature and scope of alternative graduate programs or the variety of issues that confront their development and viability. Alternative graduate education is defined and the issues and critical concepts of nontraditional graduate study are identified. (Author/MLW)

Discusses the use of technology-based learning materials in open and distance learning approaches for adult education and training. Highlights include conceptions of the purposes of education; concepts of learning; fundamental values and attitudes of society; an the interrelationship of technology-based materials and educational support systems.…

Like many other open-education schools of the 1970s, John Adams High School (Portland, Oregon) failed as an experimental school because it rapidly implemented large reforms without parent or teacher involvement, did not provide teacher training and support, and did not develop appropriate administrative or learning structures. (SV)

Two teachers discuss their experiences implementing Foxfire practices in an alternative high school. One teacher was apprehensive about changing from the "traditional" approach to "student-initiated learning." The other teacher also experienced moments of doubt, but both teachers realized the benefits of the Foxfire approach…

The author of "The Discipline of Hope" (1998) values environments that foster a sense of belonging and love of learning. Besides engaging students' imagination, teachers must convince students that they are people of worth who can accomplish something in a difficult world. Children must remain hopeful, and adults must not abandon public…

The open classroom model, enthusiastically adopted in American elementary schools based on the evident success of the British open primary schools, seemed to be an ideal educational concept for implementation into the middle school. But in the past 2 years, a growing number of educators, both at the middle school and the primary school level, have…

All students are gifted in some special way. Today's classrooms must be individualized so well that, as teachers, we really know our students and their most effective patterns of learning, realizing that cognitive and affective learning are equally important. If individual children are to approach their potential in giftedness, in whatever area,…

The school described here operates on the principle that play for the sake of play, without unsolicited adult intervention, entails the acquisition of skills and knowledge. Sudbury Valley School promotes cultural acquisition in a manner harmonious with the child's biological self-education system, without age segregation, grading, or academic…

Horizon High School combats student dropout rates in Bakersfield (California) by maintaining a small enrollment, high community involvement, close student-teacher relationships, flexible scheduling, and attention to individual students' educational needs and interests. Student attendance, graduation rates, and standardized test scores are…

Discusses the current state of distance education in the United Kingdom and Europe. Highlights include the Open University; Open Tech, for training and vocational development to aid in economic restructuring; government's role; Open College; Open Polytechnic; Open College of the Arts; Open School, for children; and the meaning of open learning.…

A high school teacher describes the learning activities his students initiated to make math more meaningful. Students determined the height of objects without direct measurement, graphed statistical information from the presidential primaries, studied the evolution of architecture by building gingerbread models, and researched land-use problems at…

Describes Tolstoy's experimental school program as a forerunner of modern, open-education programs. In a radical departure from conventional, nineteenth century Russian educational practice, Tolstoy stressed individualized, independent learning with meaningful instructional materials. In his non-coercive classroom, self-discipline was founded on…

The Athenian experience parallels the American idealism that produced progressive and open education. The extremes of Sparta's "basic" education are a caricature of our own discipline-based and basic education movements. An understanding of these systems can help us judge the merits of our own educational movements. (Author)