Contrary to critics' claims, the United States could not boast the world's finest higher-education system while maintaining a deficient public-school system. Unregulated, profit-oriented market models are inappropriate for public schools responsible for serving the social good. Privatization and techno-efficiency pressures are equally…

Public higher educational institutions, where about 80 percent of all college students and 65 percent of all four-year college students are educated, appear to be in serious trouble. In order to delve more deeply into this topic, the author invited a wide-ranging team of experts to examine changes in public higher education over the last quarter…

Five college and university trustees and administrators explain how their institutions are approaching tuition containment. Issues the institutions have addressed in this context include need-blind admissions policy, using the Consumer Price Index as a budgeting criterion, enrollment changes, relationships with service vendors, personnel policy,…

Discusses Russian political and economic changes and the impact on public education. Questions whether the emphasis on teaching ideas and new instructional methods is better than the work experience programs under the Soviet educational system. Concludes that the nation must maintain the labor training of students within school programs. (CFR)

This paper is the third in a series of yearly efforts to identify the top public-policy issues facing higher education. Each of the 10 issues is discussed in terms of likely developments in 1996 and the near future, the issue's various aspects, and sources of further information on the issue. Issues identified and discussed are: (1) cost…

This collection of essays examines efforts by groups and lobbyists to move education from the public to the private sector. There are 14 papers in 7 sections: The first section, "Introduction," includes: (1) "Studying Privatization in Education" (Henry M. Levin) and (2) "Educational Vouchers and the Media" (Lee D.…

State-sponsored, tax-advantaged college savings programs (prepaid tuition plans, college savings trusts, and college savings bonds) have proliferated since 1994. This study, which examined 160 documents from 44 states, focuses on their effect on policy, and on the debate over public-versus-private responsibility to pay for higher education, as…

Three trends in Central American higher education are examined in historical context: (1) inertia from lack of mobility, bureaucracy, and corporate influence; (2) elitism as a response to budgetary constraints; and (3) attempts to increase responsiveness to educational needs and demands. Issues examined include earlier attempts at change, slow…

The dramatic rise in university tuition costs is placing a greater financial burden on millions of college-bound Americans and their families. Yet only a fraction of the additional money colleges are collecting--twenty-one cents on the dollar--goes toward instruction. And, by many measures, colleges are doing a worse job of educating Americans.…

This paper is the fourth in a series of yearly efforts to identify the top 10 public-policy issues facing higher education. Each of the issues is discussed in terms of likely developments in 1997-98, the issue's various aspects, and sources of further information. Issues identified are: (1) the Higher Education Act Reauthorization (issues relating…

This book presents a collection of recent articles on the problems in today's schools, why school and students are underperforming, exploring a range of topics and explaining why some reforms in education are destined to fail while others have been proven to work. The first section, "Teaching Approaches," presents articles on progressive…