The key elements to this plan for special education students are keeping a check on student achievement throughout all the grades, communicating with parents about student deficiencies, and requiring competency tests of all high school students. (Author/IRT)

The Statements about Schools Inventory, designed to assess how well a school is satisfying the needs of its students, has gathered evidence that alternative schools come closer to satisfying student needs than do conventional schools. (Author/WD)

Argues against the efficacy of pluralism in the public schools because of its potential to destroy a sense of common traditions and values, to divert a school's attention from its basic purpose (to teach a common body of knowledge), and to create moral anarchy. (Author/WD)

Parrot math (memorization) seeks to control children through external rewards and punishments, rather than harness their intelligence and curiosity. Recent standardized test results document parrot math's failure. Activities-based approaches, supported by a constructivist philosophy (involving classifying, inferring, generalizing, and…

There is a great deal to think about in a minimum competency program: What competencies? How to measure? When to measure? One minimum or many? How high the minimum? Minimums for students or for schools? What to do with the incompetent? (Author/IRT)

The purpose of this proficiency legislation is to create a public dialogue regarding high school graduation standards, restore meaning to the high school diploma, and ensure that students who have difficulty with basic skills receive appropriate instruction. (Author/IRT)

Negative consequences of minimum competency testing for teacher candidates include the waste of human potential resulting from the disproportionately high failure rate of minority teacher candidates and the danger of lessening the pressure for needed curriculum reforms. This essay urges seeking alternative methods for improving the quality of…

The John Ball Zoo School, an alternative program for highly motivated sixth graders, prepares independent learners to tackle the problems of life in the 21st century. (Author/WD)

Explores such myths as competency-based graduation requirements are a repudiation of humanistic concerns, the public won't accept subjective measures of competence, and requiring students to pass proficiency tests before graduation will increase public support for education. Offers suggestions for developing new kinds of graduation requirements.…

The important thing is that the student early and continuously recognizes school as an institution ready to help, one that will help him, frequently, assess his own progress and deficiencies, indicate what these mean in terms of the future, and provide instruction for getting on. (Author)

A survey of teachers, students, administrators, and parents in Georgia shows a wide diversity of opinion regarding the levels of reading, writing, listening, speaking, and arithmetic skills that should be required for high school graduation. (Author/IRT)

LEAP (Learning through an Expanded Arts Program), a nonprofit educational organization aimed at improving educational quality in New York City's five boroughs, has served over 400,000 students over the past 12 years. LEAP projects such as Promoting Success and fraction quilts provide hands-on experience with art and music that help students learn…

Urban education reformers are now abandoning basic skills instruction and emphasizing critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity. An autocratic "pedagogy of poverty" undermines reform efforts by forcing compliance without involving students in learning and self-discipline. Good teaching is happening whenever students are actively involved…

Widespread support for the National Forum on Assessment's 1995 "Principles and Indicators" shows deep desire for a radical reconstruction of student assessment practices. Assessment to enhance student learning should rest on certain foundations: an understanding of how student learning occurs; clear statements of desired, universal…