The federal government's role in educational policy is examined. Discussed are changes in the public's problems, needs, and attitudes, and changes in state and local government roles in school governance. The impact of the federal government on state educational policy is analyzed, and predictions are made for future federal educational policy.…

Solving many current urban problems requires reinventing the American university so it becomes a humanistic, morally inspired, civic institution with an inclination and ability to help America become just and fair for all. The article discusses educational reform similar to Benjamin Franklin's original plan for the University of Pennsylvania. (SM)

Discusses the relationship between Chicago's school reform and history, noting implications for current reform: (1) origins of bureaucracy and ascendance of experts and professionals; (2) educational reform as a social movement; (3) race and ethnicity; (4) revitalization of the public sphere; and (5) limits of educational reform. (SM)

The history and implications of commercial education are examined and contrasted with current practices in vocational education. (FG)

Focusing on 1880-1920, the paper examines how professionalization projects, like those endorsed by normal schools and schools of education, contributed to vertical and horizontal divisions of labor by constructing differing views of professionalization that supported gendered assumptions about women and teaching. Local unions provided a…

The views of George I. Sanchez are examined to determine what an earlier generation of Hispanic-American educators thought about bilingual education. Sanchez stressed integrating Spanish-speaking children into Anglo classrooms and downplayed the need for a new pedagogy, such as bilingual instruction. (PP)

The article reviews demographic trends in the growth of the African American teaching force in the South from 1890 to 1940, highlighting its feminization during that time, investigating the discriminatory salaries for African American teachers, and illuminating the black perspective on the interrelated issues involved. (Author/SM)

Two aspects of age segregation in American educational history are traced--segregation of children from adults due to expansion of public education in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and increasing stratification of children by age within schools due to the practice of age-grading. (IAH)

Presents a historical overview of the development of junior high schools for young adolescents, focusing on the unique physical, emotional, and social needs of that population. The article examines the views of James Conant, the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, and a junior high school teacher. (SM)

Discusses the long history of social and political constructions of differences in United States society and public schools, including the social constructions of diversity, educators' policies for handling diversity, the influence of white ethnic groups, and racial and sex discrimination. (SM)

Highlights the recent history of South African education using life histories of two black teachers (one beginning and one experienced) whose careers as students and then teachers evolved against a backdrop of social and political conflict. The article considers ways that selected theories of oppression and resistance explain or fail to explain…

Examines the history of students who cannot do what educators want them to do, noting how educators have labeled poor performers in different periods and how these labels reflect both attitudes and institutional conditions. The paper summarizes four major historical explanations for why children fail and explores implications of this history for…

Catharine Macaulay's "Letters on Education" (1790) examined education's effect on the character, morals, and knowledge needed for citizens of both genders. Macaulay's work is described within a sociopolitical context, examining her views on human nature, educated individuals, and moral education and discussing implementation of her…