Recent surveys show significant gaps between men's and women's performance on NAEP and SAT math sections and little change in career choices along gender lines. Sex equity advocates believe that subtle practices in school classrooms are denying girls the opportunity to reach their full potential. This article offers advice on addressing gender…

Title IX, an obscure 1972 amendment passed by Congress to prohibit sex discrimination in classrooms and locker rooms, has brought about stunning changes in the restrictions and prejudices confronting young female athletes. Unfortunately, sex discrimination has gone underground, and most women's teams have male coaches. Sidebars provide tips for…

Administrators across the nation have encountered vigorous challenges against textbooks, practices, and procedures that critics find laden with occult and New Age values. Attacks are becoming more aggressive, better organized, and well financed. This article and accompanying sidebars discuss pressure group tactics and ways to counter them. The…

Programs limited to making students "feel good" often fail to strengthen the internal source of self-esteem related to integrity, responsibility, and achievement. Schools using the Building Self-Esteem program discovered significant positive changes among both students and teachers. Students exhibited more cooperative behavior and greater academic…

Commends journalist William Raspberry for urging less testing and sorting, more cooperation, and less competition in schools. Congress, under pressure to force schools to produce results and get rewards, should heed this columnist's advice. Although school boards are resisting an AASA measure (H.R. 3320) to reform local and state education…

Efficacious people set high, clear goals for themselves, orchestrate more efforts to succeed, persevere despite obstacles, are possibility thinkers, and are less vulnerable to frustration and depression than others. Self-efficacy and organizational efficacy can be developed through coaching techniques, such as cognitive and behavior modeling,…

Student suicide is a most painful and potentially disruptive event. All schools need a crisis plan that will shore up students and faculty, provide timely intervention, intervene with parents, establish communication guidelines, involve the community, and get the school back on course. A sidebar discusses suicide prevention programs' effects on…

Three rural district superintendents were asked to share their thoughts about managing rural school systems. Generally, rural superintendents must have wide-ranging educational interests, stay informed of current research, be actively involved in curriculum development, stretch scarce resources, and deal effectively with diverse personalities and…

Nearly 2,000 school districts and 14,000 schools operate their own Web sites on the Internet. School districts are going online to reach their various stakeholders. The Web enables districts to connect easily with each other, creating unprecedented learning and sharing opportunities for school leaders. This article explains how several districts…

In New Mexico, 18 out of 89 school districts are on the four-day school week. So are many rural Colorado, Oregon, and Colorado schools. Implemented as a fiscal last resort, this schedule has had unexpected educational benefits for districts. Attendance has improved and student achievement on standardized tests remains stable. (MLH)

Charter schools can be grouped into two camps: newly created schools or converted public schools (deserving further study). New charters arise to help at-risk kids, serve poor ethnic minorities, make profits, or address disgruntled parents' concerns. For-profits are leery of contracting to improve student performance. (MLH)

"Then and now" studies of student performance cannot honestly assess public education today. Student achievement is the product of many socializing institutions--especially the family, whose influence is affected by parents' socioeconomic status and ethnic/cultural values. David Grissmer's analysis of National Assessment of Educational…

Although charter schools are both public and accountable, they are increasingly being operated by private, for-profit educational management organizations. EMOs profit by reducing labor costs (cutting employment or compensation), using economies of scale (operating larger facilities); and providing fewer services (educating "mainstream"…

Whether from frustration, ambition, or financial necessity, administrators are inclined to say "yes" when private companies come calling. Sometimes superintendents initiate contacts themselves and begin new careers as well-credentialed salespeople or behind-the-scenes think tanks. At the Edison Project, former superintendents work in…

Making decisions in private sector is much easier than in public education. Motivated by profit, corporations need only please stockholders. School systems must please entire society, although they work daily with students and parents who represent only part of society, and what will please either parents or society is not always clear. Private…