National-level educational policy is being rapidly decentralized, according to this article, which offers a historical framework for understanding the new era in national education politics. The author analyzes implications of the changes taking place and discusses options open to proponents of a vigorous federal role in education. (Author/WD)

Catholic schools' improved fortunes stem mostly from socioeconomic changes beginning in the 1970s and their role in the national debate over educational quality. A study assessing the state of Catholic education shows that Catholic common schools are becoming a system of proprietary schools that educate growing numbers of non-Catholic children…

During the early 1970s, over 150 school districts and several states contracted with private companies to deliver instruction, and the Nixon Administration initiated a vast privatization field experiment in Texarkana. None of these performance contracting experiments significantly improved instruction. Instead, they raised issues of staffing,…

Among the conclusions is that the plateau of school achievement today is at a level that compares favorably with available history. (Author/IRT)

Reviews history of educational patterns in relation to order in the classroom. Although the high schools of the 1940s were disciplined and ordered, this did not result in educational excellence. (MD)

Education in the United States has expanded over the years in the pursuit of two goals: individual growth and societal development. Pursuing these goals simultaneously creates problems in setting educational standards, identifying objectives, and integrating students from varied backgrounds, but continued efforts to reach both goals must be made.…

Conant's "The American High School Today" (1959) conveyed his confidence in consolidation of smaller schools into comprehensive high schools. The book sparked criticism. Conant's personal papers reveal that his breezy optimism hid doubts, frustrations, and uncertainties. The contradiction in his views foreshadows the turbulent 1960s. (PB)

Warns against haphazard "decrementalism" as a result of retrenchment. Suggest three different stages of development in U.S. public education. Argues that a community of commitment is possible if educational leaders reformulate the purposes of public education in a tough-minded and coherent way. (Author/WD)

The two biggest educational issues facing China are critical and related--how to provide for equality of educational opportunity and how to maintain an intellectual community that is both "red" and expert. (Author/IRT)

Richard Rothstein's booklet "What Do We Know About Declining (Or Rising) Student Achievement?" claims that anecdotes about past educational practices are unreliable and difficult to relate to today's schools. Curricula and tests change; so do student populations. There are no solid historical measures, including three well-known…

School reformers have not been too radical, but have been unable to sustain their reforming energy and innovative thinking. Reformers are not "tinkering toward Utopia," but are relapsing into habit, meandering back into mediocrity. A remarkably coherent tradition of rethinking schooling is yielding to the forces of inertia,…

The 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (Title I) embodies a 35-year national commitment to help educate economically and educationally disadvantaged children. Enhanced achievement expectations and a resurgent child poverty rate should spur Congress to renew Title I funding by the end of 1999-2000. (14 references) (MLH)

The federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 (the latest revision of ESEA) has exerted strong pressure on the states to encourage local public schools to improve their standardized test scores. This emphasis reflects a desire on the part of politicians and policy makers for strict accountability in the form of current test scores that can…

Discusses the nature of political education in European schools, noting the influences of history, concepts of participatory learning, and the presence of pluralistic educational systems featuring both secular and religious schools. Countries discussed are Belgium, Italy, Greece, Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, Ireland, and France. (PGD)

Juxtaposes a series of quotations from Hitler's "Mein Kampf" on such educational topics as the study of history as politics, the learning of history, and multilingualism. (JBM)