Literature on public school curriculum development since 1950 is reviewed to determine who is determining curriculum policy-making. There is an increasingly political approach to curriculum questions on the part of the general public. (Author/VW)

Examines two reform efforts that indicate promising strategies for changing and improving urban school district decision- and policy-making systems, particularly as those systems reflect the relationships among boards of education, school superintendents, and the school district bureaucracy. (Author/IRT)

Describes cooperative ventures between the Vancouver public library system and the Vancouver School Board that have been developed to maximize service to students. Combined school-public libraries are discussed, tips for teachers working with public libraries are presented, and a sidebar contains the public library-school board Policy of Mutual…

High school students no longer keep company with the grown-ups they are about to become. Schools and districts have grown exponentially larger, impersonal, and bureaucratic, resembling post offices. Superintendents and boards who know their schools only through media representations or statistics fashion unrealistic policies. Coercion and…

Discusses strategies and techniques for communicating physical education and physical activity-related messages to local school boards, noting that without their support, efforts to promote physical education and healthful activity will be difficult. The paper includes three sections: positioning the argument, persevering in the message, and…

The article reviews existing research on cyber-bullying, framed through a policy lens. It is clear that public policy issues for cyber-bullying involve tensions between the values of freedom of speech, the best interests of the child, and parental and school protective authority over the child. Given the complexity of the problem, as well as…

The prominence of agenda items, the attendant controversy, and changes proposed in 5 areas of education reform were studied in 33 urban school districts during 1992 to 1995. Only a tiny fraction of the study of American politics has focused on school boards, their attendant bureaucracies, and the local political issues involved. This paper…

In Florida, the Full Services Schools model has emerged as an alternative to fragmented service delivery because service providers have assumed that children have needs beyond classroom education and that Florida's system of service delivery has failed to meet those needs. The purpose of this multiple-site comparative case study is to describe and…

Many view the problem of violence as not merely a school problem, but as a much larger community problem that is finding its way into the schools. As a society, in addition to teaching our children how to be violent, we are giving them the tools of violence. There are steps that school board members can take to establish and maintain control of…

This study surveyed the attitudes of public policy makers in higher education from Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee to find areas for developing fundamental policies for desegregation. A total of 71 surveys were mailed to state higher education executive officers (SHEEOs), legislative chairs of education or of higher…

Replicating a 1979 study, a survey of school library media specialists in 440 Iowa school districts was conducted in the spring of 1983 to determine the influence of a model policy published by the Iowa Department of Public Instruction (DPI) on the development, adoption, and provisions of school district policies for the selection of instructional…

This report provides information to guide establishment of state policy and practice on the use of microcomputers for foreign language instruction in Illinois schools. It consists of: (1) an overview of literature on the use of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) in foreign language teaching, from early efforts at instruction with mainframe…

Individual members of state legislatures wield the greatest influence in state level policy formation. This was one of the findings of a study that identified the power and influence context of state-level policymaking. Data were gathered from six states (Arizona, California, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Illinois) using an instrument…

This guide was developed to help local school districts review existing policies or establish new policies to address communicable diseases. Based on current scientific and medical information about the safety in allowing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected students and staff to remain at school, it contains a suggested policy for local…

In light of issues surrounding control of local school boards in Ontario, Canada, this opinion survey of 197 board trustees was conducted to determine support for full-time trustee representation. Questionnaires--sent by stratified random sampling--solicited demographic, geographic, and personal information and sought trustees' opinions on whether…