Some of the major barriers to progress in special education reform are highlighted, and critical issues for improving the prospects of achieving equity in schooling success for all of the children in U.S. schools are discussed. Vignettes illustrate what new programs and policies for helping students might actually mean for the students and their…

The equity of a national examination system using authentic assessments is discussed from technological and historical perspectives. Testing is, in fact, a technology embedded in sociotechnical systems such as education, government, and business. The historical perspective is important because it provides lessons for present policy. The first…

This document consists of four issues of the "Journal of Educational Relations" published quarterly during 1997, and devoted to promoting student achievement through positive school-home-community relationships. The first issue of this volume reprints papers originally presented at a 1967 conference cosponsored by Project Public Information and…

This document traces Australian training and literacy policy developments from 1974 to 1998. The document begins with a brief discussion of the global political, educational, social, and economic trends that have affected Australia's training and literacy policies. Discussed next are major events of the four policy "epochs" in…

This document contains five papers from a seminar devoted to the rise in the level of diplomas across the labor market. "Diploma and the Labour Market: Results and Questions Stemming from European Research" (Louis Mallet) discusses the findings of a recent study of six European countries in an attempt to explain the enormous growth in…

Although education and training should be a source of relative advantage for Australia, the competitive benefits expected from the nation's "clever country" strategy have been slow to emerge. When 22 countries including Australia, Germany, Singapore, the United Kingdom, United States, and New Zealand were compared from the standpoint of…

Based on visits to 11 schools in 6 urban areas across the country, this article describes the perspectives and behavioral responses of school staff to "reaching out" policies that lead schools to form partnerships with parents and community organizations for the purpose of enhancing children's development and academic achievement. All of…

During colonial times, education in Africa was based on the European system of education, and the European languages remained the only languages taught in schools. These languages were often taught by poorly trained teachers who passed their errors on to students. Major policy revisions and modifications in language education, teacher training,…

This report presents four papers about the use of technologies in education and a policy statement of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). The papers were commissioned for a conference designed to stimulate discussion and action among leading technology specialists at all levels of education, private sector representatives, and…

This report recommends a statewide plan of action to ensure that Pennsylvania schools provide quality school health education programs. It is the culmination of a process undertaken by the Quality School Health Education Project, initiated in response to the Year 2000 national health objective on school health education. The project identified…

A discussion of the future of education for language-minority students in the United States looks at proposed legislation and other government initiatives and prevailing educational reform movements. It is argued that reform in this country must begin with a change in attitudes toward and expectations of language-minority and…

The National Council of La Raza launched Project Excellence in Community Educational Leadership (EXCEL), in 1985 to contribute experiences and input from the community level to the school reform process and to address some of the short-term needs of the students currently enrolled. Project EXCEL, which is designed to help Hispanic American…

This monograph examines issues that will shape teacher education programs in the future. Following a foreword by Robert M. McClure, the monograph is organized into three chapters. The first, "Perestroika and Professionalism: The Case for Restructuring Teacher Preparation" (Linda Darling-Hammond), focuses on changes wrought by school…

The recommendations presented in this document concern which instructional materials should be adopted in the bilingual language arts and visual and performing arts in the State of California. Each of the instructional programs, both those recommended for adoption and those not recommended, are described at length with the rationale for the…

Tennessee's challenge for the future is to further change and revitalize the state's educational system by sustaining the momentum of the 1980s reform movements. Data collected during 1984-89 indicate that gains from school reforms are illustrated by improved standardized test scores, increased student readiness for college and work, a better…