The author, a longtime teacher and principal, levels harsh criticisms against the English/language arts standards of the Common Core State Standards. Some standards call on young children to behave like high school seniors, making fine distinctions between words or literary devices, carrying on multiple processes simultaneously, and expressing…

When "A Nation at Risk" appeared in 1983, everyone saw school reform through a lens of preconceived ideas about teaching and learning, and every part of the land of education reacted differently to the report. Some saw the problem as "bad teachers," which immediately raised the question of "bad schools of education" where they were trained.…

The author of this article contends that current efforts at school reform--ostensibly designed to increase equality of outcomes--may actually be undermining democracy by undervaluing the wide range of talents required in 21st-century America. Many policy makers today argue that all students should have a standard curriculum that will prepare them…

Provides a tongue-in-cheek proposal for establishing football training centers on four campuses in California. The plan separates athletics from academics to remove the need for cheating in academics. (IRT)

The diminished attention to social studies education began with the standards and testing movement. As the national push for accountability became ever stronger, states focused first on standards in literacy and mathematics. In the face of pressures to focus on literacy and mathematics, schools and textbook publishers are attempting to "integrate"…

Suggests some new admission criteria after arguing that present standards for admission to teacher education programs are generally inadequate to assure that even a high-quality program will produce successful teachers. (Author/IRT)

This article presents a reply to "Edison Is the Symptom, NCLB Is the Disease" by Peter Campbell--a critique that portrayed the school as an exploitative environment, a veritable plantation subjugating poor minority children through mind-numbing, compliance-inducing drills. The author refutes the specific charges leveled against…

A panel of coaches, sports writers, and a high school principal discusses the causes of and remedies for recent scandals in intercollegiate athletics. (IRT)

Argues that performance-based pay for teachers, spawned by the standards movement, will have a deleterious effect on students' education and teachers' careers. Also discusses origin of a system of administration termed New Public Management and its influence in shaping political support for standards-based education and performance-based pay.…

States have invested significant resources in developing student academic standards. Mr. Murphy argues that, for these standards to be effective, teacher preparation and certification must be aligned with them. He proposes "match studies" as a way to ensure this alignment. (Contains 3 endnotes.)

Argues for the middle ground (pluralism) between assimilation, in which the dominant culture and race are held to be superior, and segregation, in which students lack preparation for life in a world of diverse people. (Author/WD)

Argues that parents choose schools on the basis of the quality of their programs and that high quality education is not the sole property of either public or private schooling. (Author/WD)

Argues that no solid basis exists in the research literature for developing, placing, and aligning educational standards in school curricula or for placing subject-matter content at specific grade levels (scope and sequence). Welcomes input from readers who have information regarding educational standards and their development, placement, and…

Rebuts Alfie Kohn's article "Only for My Kid: How Privileged Parents are Undermining School Reform" in the April 1998 "Kappan." Kohn expects the author to pay a fortune for a home in an affluent community so his kids can get violence-prevention training and sing "Kumbaya" in a mainstreamed classroom. Earning the right…

Ever since the charter school movement became big news, Anne C. Lewis has refrained from writing about it very much because it seemed more like covering each hit in a Ping-Pong game. As study and counter-study rolled off the presses and into the press releases, the substance became less and less relevant. Each new study was always sure to be…