While policy formation frameworks are commonly used to understand public policy developments, scholars rarely have used them to reflect on arts education policies. Such analysis is important because it can assist both in identifying the genesis of past policies, including who the important actors are, how issues are framed and problematized, and…

This article is the third of three on "Sources of Authority in Education." All use the work of Amy Gutmann as a heuristic device to describe and explain the prevalence of market-based models of education reform in the US and the business-influenced Global Education Reform Movement. The other two are "Negating Amy Gutmann:…

Policy can be a useful tool for effecting change, but policy analysis, which shapes policy development, has been underused in music education research. This paper demonstrates how Bardach's (2000) Eightfold Path can be used to develop solutions to problems in music education. Some have argued that school music programs do not prepare students to…

Much like the cycles and rhythms of the seasons, implementation of the national geography standards in Colorado has, over the course of a decade, grown, developed, and changed. As with the exciting beginning of spring, our time of planting was set in motion in 1993 by the passage of Colorado House Bill 1313, which set a deadline for school…

Discusses the significance of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act for theater and other arts educators. Presents comments of several theater education teachers, leaders, and arts advocates regarding the enactment of Goals 2000. (RS)

The most recent school reform agenda directed the development of national standards across the academic content areas to improve educational practice and pedagogy. U.S. Department of Education's (1994) Goals 2000: The Educate America Act and its subsequent nationwide implementation largely ignored the involvement of school counseling in school…

Examines controversies over national and state standard setting (Goals 2000, outcome-based education) involving conservative citizen groups. Makes recommendations for widening public participation in educational policy-making and aligning public engagement with standards-based reform. (SK)

Asks whether standards in the arts are necessary. Presents the standards as set forth in the Goals 2000 Act, and provides some commentary on how to achieve them. States that educational reform, national standards, artists and educators working together, teacher education, and teaching leadership are necessary to make the standards work. (PA)

Offers historical background on some of the National Communication Association's past involvement in K-12 education. Describes the process used to develop the K-12 standards for speaking, listening, and media literacy. Gives an overview of the present effort to articulate competency statements for each standard. (SR)

In this excerpt from her new book, "National Standards in American Education: A Citizen's Guide," Diane Ravitch argues that there are steps local school boards, parents, and communities can take to implement educational reform and high academic standards. (MLF)

This book focuses on information literacy and facilitating change in schools. Chapters include:" What Is Information Literacy?"; "Why Information Literacy?"; "How Information Literacy Relates to National Curriculum Standards"; "Essential Components of Information Literacy"; "The Necessary Reforms and…

Title II of Goals 2000 created the National Educational Standards and Improvement Council (NESIC), a federally funded agency to devise national content and performance standards in key academic subjects and certify state-submitted standards. Since Republicans have taken over Congress, this council is finished. Any private successor must mount…

A historic change is taking place in American education with the development of voluntary national standards that will identify what all students should know and be able to do in order to live and work in the twenty-first century. Content standards will define what students should know and be able to do, and performance standards will identify the…

This book of essay provides an analysis of how Goals 2000 and other standards-setting initiatives will affect local school districts and private schools. The essayists reflect diverse perspectives on the issue and argue that mandated standards will have devastating effects on children's learning and on the quality of democratic community life.…

Goals 2000: Educate America Act (P.L. 103-227) authorizes a range of initiatives for federal support of education reform. Its basic strategy is that of systemic reform guided by sets of agreed-upon educational goals and standards at each level of governance. An overview and analysis of the Act's basic provisions and authorizations is provided.…