Congressman Quie of Minnesota addresses various educational issues, including the relationship between educational research and practice, curriculum development and national censorship, staff development, collective bargaining, and school integration legislation. (Author/JG)

The data from this study indicate that the national policy of exploiting the young child's capacity to learn exerted a powerful influence on state educational policy. (Author)

The National Parent Teacher Association acknowledges parents' primary child-rearing role, but questions the need for legislation to extend parents' constitutional rights. Parents already have numerous rights and options for fighting "unreasonable" government interference. The laws that upset parental rights proponents are needed to…

The United States has about 225,000 to 500,000 homeless children. In 1987, Congress passed a comprehensive law to provide emergency and long-term assistance for homeless persons. Under the Stewart B. McKinney Act, states receive funding to investigate homeless children's needs, identify education obstacles, and develop plans to overcome them. Tips…

In contrast to studies of abstinence-only programs, studies of abstinence-plus curricula indicate that students do not increase sexual activity. Parents, teachers, and administrators should evaluate all sexuality education programs according to three important criteria: credibility of training materials, curriculum content, and curriculum…

Most educators agree that the primary criterion of school success is the ongoing growth and achievement of every student even in the midst of constant debate about the state of the US education and conflicting opinions regarding the value of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Standardized tests have their place, but computerized adaptive testing aimed…

In the No Child Left Behind Act and the What Works Clearinghouse, the federal government has attempted to establish guidelines for the type of education research that U.S. schools should consider in selecting instructional programs and resources. The government's clear preference for the medical model--a powerful research design in such fields as…

Indiana spent more than $100 million in past three years on Prime Time, program to reduce class size in the primary grades. Data show that in classrooms with 18 to 22 students, the atmosphere is less hectic, teacher morale is higher, instruction is more individualized, and students (particularly those at risk) are better achievers. Includes five…

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)

Explores the implications for California schools from new legislation calling for school improvement and, at the same time, Proposition 13 that reduced the property taxes. (Author/MLF)

While working to reconcile developmentally sound curricula and instruction with district and state requirements, faculty at a Dalton, Georgia, primary school were hindered by mandated standardized tests. Since uncovering several negative aspects of such testing, faculty have been struggling to teach a developmental and test-driven math program…

In many countries, education legislation embodies contradictory pressures for centralization and decentralization. In the United Kingdom, there is growing government control over policy and direction of schools; schools are also being given more responsibility for resource management. "Moving" schools within Improving the Quality of…

Within the next decade, national standards describing essential outcomes in various school subjects could become the glue holding together curriculum frameworks and guides, textbook adoption, staff development, and student assessment. This article discusses confusion over definitions and intentions, raises questions about delivery and assessment…

An exclusionary clause in the Education for All Handicapped Children Act prohibits special-education services for "socially maladjusted or disaffected" children. Ingrained in public-education culture, this policy undermines educators' efforts to address the needs of students with evolving personality and character disorders.…

Describes several prominent early grades small-class-size projects and their effects on student achievement: Indiana's Project Prime Time, Tennessee's Project STAR (Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio), Wisconsin's SAGE (Student Achievement Guarantee in Education) Program, and the California class-size-reduction program. Lists several conclusions,…