Is the quality of instruction systematically better in one subject than another? Teachers and students in the same Chicago high schools reported on one core-curriculum class (English, mathematics, science, or social studies) in 2007 surveys. Teachers commented on instructional demands and student participation. Students described engagement,…

Argues that public school teachers are unable to do their jobs properly because the classroom has become an unworkable environment. Advocates strong teacher associations that will force boards, administrators, and the community to make the changes necessary to facilitate real teaching. (SJL)

As a teacher of English, the author comments on teaching pressures that were glossed over in the CBS special "Is Anyone Out There Learning?" particularly the strictures of law and money and the lack of time with students. All articles in this journal issue comment on this television program. (SJL)

Across the United States, an ever-increasing number of high schools have reevaluated their use of instructional time and have adopted some form of a block schedule. Block scheduling, an innovation grounded in Trump's Flexible Modular Scheduling Design, reorganizes the school day into extended blocks of time, each approximately 70 to 90 minutes.…