The author comments on personal encounters with the educational deficiencies of secondary and higher education. However, he senses a change of direction, e.g., higher standards are being established for a high school diploma, colleges are again requiring students to take certain courses. Next area ripe for change is graduate education. (RM)

Explores constructivist teaching assumptions of early childhood teacher preparation programs: (1) active adult learning is valued; (2) educational reform begins in university classrooms; (3) translating best practices and research into teaching contributes to classrooms and student teacher supervision; (4) maintaining links to K-12 education…

An outdoor educator reflects on the changing nature of outdoor education, including a lack of interest and excitement among children regarding the outdoors, the inability of children to sustain physical activity, government's failure to assess children's educational needs, poor government support for outdoor programs, and the effect of inferior…

A teacher reflects on what he learned from his students and educator Earl Kelley's writings, when 30 years ago as a beginning teacher, he attempted a democratic approach to teaching junior high school science and math. This approach encouraged student collaboration in the planning of learning activities, community projects, and student assessment.…

Analyzes the influence of industrial metaphors in education and teacher education, arguing that education renewal requires new metaphors that represent teacher-student relationships differently from those associated with discipline and management. An approach to preservice education that analyzes teaching metaphors to explore beginning teacher…

A high school teacher and four students restructured the curriculum for a shop math class based on Foxfire practices. The students, former underachievers, gained support and raised monies for building a gyroplane by writing grants, meeting with school administrators, and taking part in community speaking engagements. (LP)

This narrative inquiry portrays the human experience of change by way of a situated account of a reform event. Three conceptualizations ground storied the analysis: the metaphor of the "professional knowledge landscape" of schools; the "narrative authority" of teacher knowledge; and the notion that teachers have knowledge communities with whom…

This study explores novice teachers' experiences as team leaders for school-community partnerships. Six focal teachers who were enrolled in an MA program in teacher development and leadership were recruited for the study. The focal teachers volunteered to serve as leaders of a reading-focused community involvement activity as members of their…

This report presents stories, written by teachers in the northwestern United States, about their experiences with curriculum over the years. The stories come from several groups, including four teachers who wrote as individuals, one pair of close colleagues, and one interview with a team of educators. The teachers responded to questions about how…

This paper: (1) describes the recently implemented Texas plan for school reform; (2) delineates a major component of Texas reform, the career ladder. In response to a nationwide call for raised educational standards, Texas passed HB 72, a comprehensive education bill implementing a comprehensive "career ladder" model for the testing,…

A teacher discusses the negative effects of collective socialization on students in government controlled public schools. Suggested ways to deconstruct mass schooling include requiring educators in nonteaching positions to teach, simplifying the curriculum, making student learning relevant, keeping schools small and independent, getting rid of…

A Soviet teacher recognizes the difficulty of transforming educational systems and the tendency to revert to dogmatism. Cautions against teachers uncritically adopting current pedagogical fashions. Insists the individual teacher's personality remains the primary instructional influence. Applauds efforts to democratize teacher-student relations.…

A Foxfire teacher describes student reactions to a democratic approach implemented in an undergraduate teacher education course and an inservice teacher workshop. Goal was for participants to develop methods and activities that would involve their future K-12 students in active and democratic learning. (LP)

An elementary school teacher changed his teaching approach to one based on John Dewey's philosophy that science should be taught as a method of inquiry, not as a fixed body of knowledge. Students were encouraged to formulate scientific questions and work together in establishing experimental procedures. (LP)

Contends that secondary school teacher careers have been transformed in the past 25 years. Asserts that the increased influence of educators with broader curricular and administrative responsibilities is at the expense of heads of traditional subject departments. (CFR)