Identifying key concepts and making those concepts meaningful is critical in constructing a preschool curriculum. Establishing national standards for content in early childhood education may help guide teachers in constructing curriculum, but teachers must know each child and the total group to turn specified standards for content into meaningful…

Successful standards-based reform requires fundamental reconstruction of educational institutions and systems, so that high standards become the basis of curriculum, textbooks and other instructional materials, assessments, graduation requirements, and teacher education, certification, and training. A great failure of our public education system…

To realize future continuous learning, thinking, and complex problem-solving goals and standards, educators must exchange content acquisition and knowledge retention as ends in themselves for more adventuresome, experiential learning strategies. Teachers will assume new roles as knowledge managers, team planners, collegial coaches, and…

Voluntary national standards will not correct the gross inequities in the educational experiences of poor children and do not address the question of "Whose knowledge is of most worth?" Content standards enable schools and policymakers to avoid addressing the substantive causes of student failure. (SK)

Examines major assumptions of curriculum alignment and standards-based reform. Both reforms are potentially long on political expediency but short on educational efficacy. Improved test scores do not necessarily signal curriculum improvement. Educators should become more politically active, practice professional disobedience, or pursue…

This article focuses on standards specific to Domain 3: Physical Preparation and Conditioning of the National Standards for Sport Coaches (NASPE, 2004b). It discusses program design concepts that coaches can apply to prepare athletes for the demands of their sport, and is based on both research and best professional practice. Sport preparation has…

In the essay, "The logic of convergence and uniformity in teacher production", Loomis et al. advocate that teachers are experiencing a shift from individualistic programs that prepare them toward uniform, common teacher preparation resulting from top-down agenda-setting and mandated regulations. In their theoretical stance, the knowledge…

Educational leaders are developing standards to specify what students should know and be able to achieve in key subject areas. This document examines an important challenge of standards-based reform--that of creating a process to develop standards. Information is based on studies conducted by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE)…

In the fall of 1996, the State Board of Education adopted Vermont's Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities. Over the years, the aim has been to make the standards more useful as guides to curriculum development. In 2000, the standards were formally revised and again adopted by the State Board. In 2004, another chapter in the standards,…

Educational reform efforts are currently at the top of the nation's agenda. Policymakers are hearing increasing calls from members of the public to improve standardized test scores. These reform calls are a response to the perceived inadequacy of science teaching in our nation. Data were collected from participating states regarding the status of…

Since the Internet has become a primary information source, this digest offers a list of online resources to assist teachers and educators in conducting research and curriculum development and in meeting the National Standards for Arts Education in Theatre. The digest provides brief summaries of three Web sites on theatre education. It then…

This paper provides the current rationale and historical background for educational standards and discusses various meanings and interpretations attached to this term. It then provides a comparative analysis of these sets of publications that are seen as providing national standards for the American Association for the Advancement of Science…

Technology education in Taiwan, presently called living technology (LT), is a new area that has evolved from handicraft, industrial arts, and other areas. LT is offered mainly at the secondary school level, although it is required for all students in grades 1-11. In response to calls for curriculum reform, the present elementary and junior high…

Discusses social studies and its critics; the struggle for the soul of social studies; fragmentation and national standards; proliferation of standards; and assessment in the national standards. Suggests that administrators and teachers responsible for curriculum development should carefully examine all standards documents as they plan for…

Describes contributions made by the National Council on the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), noting changes in accreditation standards for teacher preparation programs. The article describes a study of the first 20 schools seeking accreditation under the new NCATE process. Results indicated national accreditation had a significant…