This report examines whether a high school curriculum organized around the five "new basics" suggested by the National Commission on Excellence in Education is likely to enhance student achievement. Data from the ETS Growth Study reveals that completion of the core curriculum has sizable effects on senior-year test performance, even when…

This study focuses on vocational education curriculum and staffing changes among California school districts as a result of 1983 state back-to-basics educational reform legislation (Hughes-Hart Educational Reform Act of 1983). Data were gathered from 1981-86, beginning with baseline data two years prior to, during, and two years after legislation.…