In many respects, the state of minority language reflects the dynamics of the society at large. At this time, many minority languages are threatened by modernization and urbanization, although others find support in new regional autonomy and movements toward cultural preservation. The 17 chapters of this collection describe the status of a number…

The Chicago School Reform Act provided a rare opportunity for those who were involved in the development of the legislation to be primarily responsible for the initial implementation of the plan. The governance model of the Reform Act, which is the subject of this study, provided for an elected school counsel at each of 542 schools and maintained…

The American dilemma, with regard to race, is posed as the question of how the nation can square its lofty ideals with the base realities of racial discrimination. This study, originally commissioned by the Carnegie Corporation in 1938, makes it clear that the struggle goes on in the hearts of all Americans. The root of the "Negro…

This study, originally commissioned by the Carnegie Corporation in 1938, makes it clear that the root of the "Negro problem" is the conflict between American moral valuations preserved in the American ideal and the valuations existing on specific planes of individual and group living. There is a jarring discrepancy between the professed…

This book for young readers explores ethnic conflict in the schools. Public schools in the United States are among some of the places where members of a country's different ethnic and racial groups are brought together and required to work together more closely. A racial group is a group of people who share certain physical traits and often share…

How the trend toward school-based management since the 1988 Education Reform Act has affected racial educational equality in England and Wales was studied through an examination of the policies and practices of a British Local Education Authority (LEA), identified as Woodshire. A review of the policies, practices, and events in the Woodshire…

It is racism that has undermined the War on Poverty declared by Lyndon Johnson, and the country must come to terms with its history of racism if there is to be any hope of accomplishing welfare reform today. American social policy has continually foundered on issues of race. The antipoverty efforts begun by the Johnson administration were never…

A discussion session for urban school superintendents from Pennsylvania and New Jersey identified four educational issues, currently the focus of a good deal of political debate and activity, that illustrate the shift from local to Federal, and then from Federal to state-level influence and initiative. These are (1) centralization of control; (2)…

This case study of the Kossuth Lajos Tudomanyeyetem, an academic library in Debrecen (Hungary), conducted in May 1992, describes its functioning and needs. Information gathered through a series of interviews, tours, library reports, and a review of relevant literature forms the basis for the case study. An overview of the library in its historical…

The appropriateness of the market metaphor as a guide to education policy with respect to school choice is discussed, and the theory and practice of school choice and the history of the choice movement are traced. School choice has at times become a vehicle for racial and economic segregation and a way to deny, rather than promote, access to…

A set of procedures for evaluating language planning and policy is proposed. The method, developed to assess language policy implementation in Morocco since independence in 1956, is suggested as a diagnostic device to assist specialists in evaluating previously implemented plans and those in progress. It isolates the linguistic and extralinguistic…

Newton Minow, chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) during John Kennedy's presidency, considered his plan for the organization of international television--one that gave a new priority to broadcasting without fundamentally altering the legal framework of regulation--as one of the major accomplishments of his tenure. Yet historians…

Findings from a study on system supports needed to achieve equity in higher education for black Americans are synthesized in this report. The needed support systems are identified as: (1) Federal educational policy; (2) research; (3) human resources; (4) socioeconomic/sociopolitical support; (5) higher education planning; and (6) monitoring and…

Using as an example the development of the comprehensive school concept in the Netherlands, this paper explores the strategy for educational innovation in a centralized national educational system, the role of educational research and evaluation in educational innovation, the impact of research on policy-making, and the strengths and weaknesses of…

Argues that both state and local politics are more influential than current theory, educational research, and practitioner craft knowledge in shaping the initial conceptualization and subsequent implementation of reform initiatives in the Chicago (Illinois) public schools. Messages for other school systems are highlighted in the Chicago…