Summarizes "First Lessons," the author's 1986 report on elementary schooling. Acknowledges society's complexity, the nation's ethnic and socioeconomic diversity, parents' importance, and changing family structure. Examines curriculum content and quality, principal and teacher effectiveness, and school policy issues, including the need for rigorous…

Describes the Committee for Economic Development; its interest in education; its conviction that carefully designed, high quality education will enhance the nation's economic development; and its reasons for recommending educational reform from the bottom up, emphasizing liberal education, and urging funding of enriched preschool experience for…

States have created two types of educational improvement programs: school-based programs (engaging local school people in planning, problem-solving, and implementing strategies) and instructionally focused programs for bettering teacher and administrator skills. Successful programs progress through initiation, implementation, and…

Currently, youth services are uncoordinated, youth workers are underpaid, and youth programs survive on hand-to-mouth funding. Although schools touch every child's life, they cannot singlehandedly repair this damaged youth ecosystem. Community development, a necessary partner in education reform efforts, will enmesh schools with other agencies in…

The U.S. and the Soviet Union face serious problems in trying to reform their education systems. Both countries need to prepare students for productive participation in the world economy, while also addressing significant internal priorities (minority group needs, educator demands as professionals, and changes in educational technology). Includes…

Today's students lack sufficient opportunities to practice caring or be rewarded for caring behavior. A caring culture in schools requires not radical restructuring of policies, curricula, and systems but subtle changes in attitudes and scope. Educators must consider students within their social and developmental contexts, redefine the teacher's…

A 1987 grant from the Danforth Foundation enabled the University of Virginia Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies to develop and pilot a restructured principal preparation program several years in advance of a program restructuring deadline. Changes in educational administration will not occur without principal role changes,…

Although Generations X and Y do not promote specific social-change goals, today's young people share a concern for building, maintaining, and serving community. Simply assigning students tasks in teacher-designed service-learning projects denies them opportunities for decision making, action planning, and leadership development. (MLH)

An evaluation of a Georgia middle school's multi-age grouping program revealed significant progress regarding student self-esteem, achievement, community building, and teacher collaboration. The Crabapple experience illustrates how one model of student-centered, developmentally appropriate, and integrated learning can benefit middle-level…

Discusses ways research universities can involve more tenured faculty members in supervising student teachers in schools. Describes problems with traditional model of supervision. Discusses a new inquiry-based supervision model developed at the University of Maine using faculty members as mentors, student curriculum inquiry projects…

Studies conducted by the Center for Women in Educational Leadership at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill provide the data for this overview of how female educational administrators feel about the relationship between their careers and their roles as women. (PGD)

Argues that only when educators understand the mutual interaction of the educational system and the economy, join local and state coalitions to address the underlying issues producing the current fiscal crisis, and work for local control can economic conditions affecting the schools change and allow educational quality to improve. (Author/PGD)

Movement into high-technology Information Age demands a new kind of education and new, nonbehaviorist forms of school organization. Increasing social complexity requires schools to ensure that all students learn at high levels, construct their own knowledge, and fully develop their talents. This new model of unstandardized teaching and learning…

Democratically oriented school leaders are challenged to establish shared missions, work as change agents, collaborate with colleagues, consider all constituents, and perceive and elucidate theory-practice connections. This article explains the Institute for Educational Inquiry Leadership Program's plan for developing these five critical…

According to Annenburg Institute consultants, all education community members need the responsibility and authority to take appropriate leadership roles. Effective schools develop a shared vision, determine clear priorities, promote continuous professional learning, link schools to community assets, provide strong accountability, and reorganize…