This article reports that Massachusetts has made great strides in education over the past decade. The author attributes the success in large part to the very factors that have drawn the most criticism: the high standards and high stakes attached to the state assessments. Sections include: (1) The Massachusetts Case; (2) Implementation; and (3) The…

load has been highlighted by recent studies, including work for the DfES by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC 2001) and by the Office for Manpower Economics (OME) for the School Teachers' Review Body (DfES 2000). The PwC report concluded that teachers and headteachers work more intensive weeks than other comparable managers and professionals. This heavy…

Not long after the political transition in 1997, Hong Kong witnessed a spate of top-down education reforms that had been conceived within the neoliberal ideology of economic globalisation. Neoliberalism is particularly pervasive here, because of the underdevelopment of representative politics and of critical, social democratic discourse in…

Traditionally, the study of public address has meant the study of great speakers, focusing on individual speech texts, or the speaking careers of individual orators. So dominant was this traditional study of public address that, in its halcyon decades of the l930s, 1940s, and 1950s, it all but eliminated other approaches to rhetorical criticism.…

Discusses the teaching of literature in an instrumentalist or bureaucratic culture. Gives examples of instrumentalist influence in the English department at the University of Iowa: changes in department offerings, the emergence of a new departmental coherence, and the concentration of literary theory in the program of comparative literature. (EL)

This book examines why most charter schools will fail. It opens with a historical overview, describing the fate and significance of the precursor to charter schools: President Nixon's Experimental Schools Program. It then turns to the author's personal experiences in educational theory and practice, presenting and discussing the essential features…

This paper is a brief background introduction to the topics of history and education. It indicates some of the main lines of contemporary thinking about the history of education. Also, the history of recent elementary/popular education is reviewed. (ND)

Presents a history of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), focusing on procedural changes from 1969 to date and questions whether NAEP results should be used for accountability purposes. It recommends that NAEP should be insulated from reform efforts and that NAEP's monitoring of population levels of educational achievement…

The authors restate their position that it is essential to correct narrow conceptions of science and that to do so requires the infusion of history and philosophy of science into teacher education programs. Discusses various educational philosophies that address whether or not the boundaries of science can be established clearly. (LZ)

Reviews five books on school reform. At least two authors reinforce the philosophy that "every child can learn" with strong evidence in favor of heterogeneous classrooms. Another theme in the books is that education reform should encompass kindergarten through doctoral degrees. (MLF)

Discusses various reports that address the current state of the educational system, including camps of criticism and support. Topics include standards; international comparisons; graduation rates; educational reform; educational innovations; and the need for involvement with members of the community. (LRW)

Examines two recent films--"Scent of a Woman" and "Strictly Ballroom"--that project stereotypical negative portrayals of educational institutions and their limited capacity for reform. Both films bring their audiences to view educational institutions as worthy of destruction and, by focusing on "quick fixes," fail to address the difficulties of…

Within this paper the author examines the current nostalgia for a never-present past through critical analysis of images of the mid 20th century American classroom in media culture. The author uses theories of nostalgia and the history of the photographic image to trouble the numerous equity issues surrounding the unchallenged canonization of the…

This report contains a May 1990 version of draft regulations for State oversight of California's private colleges, universities, and vocational schools, as well as the oral and written testimony regarding the regulations that the California Postsecondary Education Commission received during the summer of 1990. The draft regulations of June 11,…

Damage that might be done to students by schools may be induced in very subtle ways, not solely as a result of what teachers themselves do but also as a function of how our schools are designed and run. (Author/MLF)