Good times are not just around the corner. Rather, at least for the next half-decade, educators are facing what Secretary Duncan has termed the "new normal." After three generations in which national, nominal per pupil spending went up every single year, learning to operate in an environment of flat or declining spending is a new challenge for…

Neither the proponents of district-based reforms nor supporters of choice and competition can claim that their solutions have produced the schools that we want. To move forward, we must shake off assumptions that tried-and-true responses will deliver the reforms that schools need. To achieve the desired results will require fostering the…

Overviews progress in the interconnected realms of early childhood policy, management of local agencies, front-line practice in classrooms and communities, and experiences of young children and their families. The nation lacks a coherent system to fund, manage, govern, and support quality in local early childhood education agencies. (MLH)

The Harambee schools make up 75 percent of all secondary schools in Kenya, but only 7 percent of students enrolled in the University of Nairobi have attended these schools. Describes a typical Harambee school in Uvumbi and discusses serious problems schools are experiencing throughout Kenya, despite correct recognition that education is major…

An appraisal of performance contracting in an upper income school district. (JF)

Describes components of "Seventh Five-Year Plan" for China that identify the importance of educational development. In 1985 the Ministry of Education was replaced by the National Education Commission, emphasizing the new prominence of education. The centralized structure of the education system is being dismantled, and concerns over the…