Identifies nine necessary ingredients for replacing tracking with heterogeneous grouping alternatives: a belief that all students can learn, an orientation to institutional change, high expectations for all students, a partnership of leaders and teachers, committed parents, a hospitable policy context, a multiyear plan, purposeful professional…

Now is the time to reassess the functions of education and to accept a realistic picture of the actual contribution of schooling to young people and to our national life. (MM)

Argues that overreliance on standardized tests contributes to the deterioration of educational standards, teacher passivity, and lack of student involvement in academic studies, thus undermining democratic education; lists several alternatives to standardized testing. (MCG)

An innovative and cost-effective means of expanding curricular offerings for the rural school is the use of computer-assisted instruction, extension courses offered through correspondence, audiovisual courses, and videotape courses. (Author/MLF)

To finish the process of desegregation, we must set district boundary lines to eliminate residential segregation, get rid of resegregation within schools, and adopt ancillary relief programs. (Author)

Research findings show that the difference in male and female achievement in mathematics appears to be largely a cultural phenomenon. Interventions are suggested to achieve equal educational opportunity for women and minority students in mathematics education. (Author/MLF)

Academic performance differences among children from varied socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds are unacceptably large. Instead of waiting for U.S. society to solve its inequity problems, educators must prepare all children to achieve their full potential. Educators should think of all children as promising, use early-intervention strategies, and…

Since March 1989, Boston has attempted to implement three elements deemed successful for successful school choice programs: fair assignment procedures, an effective parent information system, and interventions to help certain schools become more competitive. The Boston experience shows the difficulties involved in reforming a monopoly governed by…

A review of the literature and a survey of practitioners' views show that the educational reform movement has done little to promote educational equity or to close the gender achievement gap. (Author/TE)

Multicultural education tries to create equal educational opportunities by ensuring that the total school environment reflects the diversity of groups in classrooms, schools, and society. Five dimensions can help educators implement and assess programs addressing student diversity: content integration, knowledge construction, prejudice reduction,…

Choosing outcome-based education over a traditional time-based approach means that students will progress through a given set of outcomes at different rates. To prevent scheduling difficulties, schools could make the transition to flexible scheduling and performance contracts within a traditional curriculum. Then teachers could develop…

Proponents of national tests claim they are needed to provide individual student test scores and to yield aggregate statewide and nationwide data. However, other sources already provide mountains of data, and U.S. school children are already the most tested in the world. The tests proposed by Congress will be harmful, since there are inadequate…

Educators cannot be rigid about using same- or cross-sex grouping, as both can be beneficial. Race and gender equity are complex, interrelated issues. Three ways of thinking can lead to potential conflicts between race and gender in equity pursuits: either/or, hierarchical, and universal (categorical). Both/and thinking and same-sex/same-race…

The fates of schools are increasingly intertwined. What leaders do in one school necessarily affects the fortunes of students and teachers in other schools around them. Exemplary or high-profile institutions draw the most outstanding teachers and leaders, draining them away from other schools that, in time, become low-status places in which…

A county circuit court judge defined "quality" education for public schools of West Virginia. The case illustrates that comprehensive decisions about curriculum, instruction, and supervision for an entire state are within the jurisdiction of the court. (MLF)