The clear and unavoidable conclusion is that achieving equality is less important than maintaining inequality. Class inequality by school district is highly valued in American education. Unequal taxes will continue to finance unequal schools. That is how we finance schools in America. (Author)

Contains a comment rebutting earlier articles (see EA 503 995 and EA 503 731) concerned with the controversy over the ways and means to achieve equal educational opportunity. A reply by the original author is included. (Author/DN)

The author states that the public schools are under attack from the New Right--an attack that threatens their existence. He describes the nature of the threat and of the New Right itself. Following his article are four responses. (Author/MLF)

The variety of educational organizations and their obsessions is awesome; however, because of the common enemy, the Reagan administration, the lobbyists representing the education associations have become adept at putting aside their differences. (Author/MLF)

In an interview, Willard Wirtz discusses his recent report, "Measuring the Quality of Education." Wirtz believes that the National Assessment of Educational Progress should be widely publicized and used and directed toward framing nationwide standards of educational quality. (Author/WD)

As a matter of public policy, education should move toward institutional pluralism that takes account of group needs and identities within a larger American culture. We must lay to rest the bugbear that a diverse system is necessarily a corrosively segregated and unequal system. (Author/IRT)

Whether the goal of economic equality is retained or abandoned, a change in the pattern of control over education seems inevitable. The options range from extreme centralization to maximum individual control. However, in no case should the choice be clouded by unrealistic expectations about what formal education can accomplish. (Author)

Describes the planning that has gone into the program for integrating 11 school districts in New Castle County, Delaware. (IRT)

National standards are unnecessary for the top quarter of college-bound students. However, a national basic examination covering marketable skills in language and mathematics is crucial to improving the educational system for all other students. Establishing a National Basic Skills Certificate program would appease both liberals and conservatives.…

High-stakes tests seriously threaten excellence and national standards. Unchecked, they will stifle many excellent schools and drive gifted teachers from classrooms. Bad tests, used to make high-stakes decisions, will lead to unnecessarily low standards, undesirable educational practices, shortchanged students, and underprepared citizens.…

Emphasizes the development of an effective planning capability in the state. Describes the policy challenges posed by enrollment decline, then analyzes the content and process of Minnesota's response, focusing on legislative enactments aimed at improving school district planning. (IRT)

Self-interested political, corporate, and education leaders have undermined recent West Virginia court decisions mandating educational reform. Three implications are: (1) principals, teachers, parents, and students must be equal partners in the educaiton reform process; (2) a constituency for rural children is needed; and (3) rural educators must…

Assumes that America's economic difficulties and resulting social tensions will continue over the next two decades. Predicts consequent negative and positive trends in curricular content and organization and in decision-making processes affecting curricular change. Suggests that social change is crucial if curricular change is to be effective.…

Many private schools accepting public and private voucher funding use instructional materials that transmit profoundly conservative values. Content of texts produced by A Beka Books and Bob Jones University Press is virtually identical to materials produced and disseminated by the Christian Right and other conservative groups. (Contains 42…