State Education Agencies (SEAs), in their pivotal role of representing the interests of both the public and the education establishment, must make constant reassessment of the directions which may be taken to improve education, and of the policy issues and options to be examined. These policy-level considerations can be brought into focus by…

Testing of teacher competence is traced from colonial times to the present. Various forms of teacher testing were commonplace up through the nineteenth century. A major educational reform movement in the early twentieth century succeeded in eliminating teacher tests in favor of proper and uniform preparation through teacher education. (BS)

The elimination of undergraduate teacher education programs at many institutions is discussed. However, leaders of colleges that offer undergraduate majors in education have reacted with disapproval to recent proposals that such programs be abolished in favor of graduate preparation of teachers. (MLW)

The reports of four recent reform proposals for American education were analyzed: "A Nation at Risk,""Action for Excellence,""Academic Preparation for College," and "Making the Grade." The authors concluded that the commissions used weak arguments and poor data. Recommendations were made to remedy current…

This document presents the Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation (MCTP) faculty's reviews on instructional issues of different disciplines. Contents include: (1) "The Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation"; (2) "Guiding Principles: New Thinking in Mathematics and Science Teaching"; (3) "Introduction: Parallel Journeys of Risk and…

Seventeen sixth and seventh grade inner city teachers participated in a knowledge-centered, technology-assisted, community-of-learners integrated approach to instructional experiences known as Schools for Thought (SFT). With the help of university staff, teachers received assistance in making professional change related to SFT instructional and…

This report examines the design and operation of efforts by several states that are implementing initiatives to improve low performing schools, drawing out lessons that could be applied in Tennessee. It focuses on why initiatives in Kentucky and North Carolina deserve attention; core ideas shaping Kentucky's and North Carolina's programs; what…

The Columbia Group is a network of nine state-based organizations that are committed to promoting education reform. Each of these organizations exists and works in a specific and unique environment. Group members are essentially small nonprofit organizations with full-time staffs. The significant success that Columbia Group organizations have had…

In 1998, the Network expanded its project in Connecticut to a series of 10-day workshop. The Network brought together representative 12-member teams from eight Title I elementary schools to learn about successful research-based reform models and best practices. The teams designed a 3-year Reform Blueprint with goals and objectives, including…

This report marks a midpoint in the Annenberg $500 million challenge to improve public schools. It comes at a time when evidence from the Annenberg Challenge's first projects has started to accumulate--and to suggest that the program is indeed having a beneficial impact on students, schools, and communities. This report also furnishes early…

In little over a decade, England has given its 24,000 governing boards of public schools the power to hire their principals and virtually autonomous authority over their school budgets. England established, and then curtailed, a national voucher program. It made all its public schools "schools of choice." It created a new type of public…

This monograph describes a professional development model that supports educators and families in learning and growing together. It offers a theoretical framework and practical guidance for renewing the capacity of schools to produce positive results for all children. It embraces principles of collegiality, inquiry, learning, and community. Part…

This publication presents information from an April 1999 meeting of the National Partnership for Excellence and Accountability in Teaching and Learning and the Learning First Alliance, which brought together representatives of schools and districts where outstanding faculty development was underway. This guide presents the story that these…

This guide is designed to help school district leaders build public understanding and support for comprehensive school reform (CSR) by introducing the concept to schools, parents, and the community. Without broad-based public understanding and support, it will be difficult for the district to meet its central goal of improving student achievement.…

Interest in educational reform is a side benefit of recent school criticism. Unfortunately, where the cause of educational failure is understood to be teachers, educational reform has become teacher reform, which most often means that greater effort will be placed on controlling teacher behavior. (LC)