This article presents an interview with Donna Y. Ford, a Professor of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University where she teaches in the Department of Special Education. Ford has been a Professor of Special Education at the Ohio State University, an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Virginia, and a…

Student achievement is a serious problem in American schools today. Academics are compromised when districts have difficulty attracting, retaining and rewarding highly qualified teachers. School districts must utilize innovative methods in motivating educators to stay in the profession. Teacher motivation is the key to academic success. (Contains…

Although some educators commonly assume that the way to improve the writing of urban students is to provide "more structure," Nancy G. Patterson and Renee Speed argue that this approach can instead be detrimental. In too many cases, structure characterizes control and colonization rather than the freedom for teachers to structure their curricula…

In a decade and a half, the charter school movement has gone from a glimmer in the eyes of a few Minnesota reformers to a maturing sector of America's public education system. Now, like all 15-year-olds, chartering must find its own place in the world. First, advocates must answer a fundamental question: What type of relationship should the…

This essay discusses the federal role in the improvement of educational practice nationally and at the local level, the role and influence of federal or other national program evaluations on local curriculum decisions, and the differences in role perceptions between federal and local school district officials. (CT)

To facilitate communication between economists and other professionals involved in school finance analysis and policy-making, this study proposes a common vocabulary, describes a set of basic concepts, and explains the application of the more useful tools of economic analysis to school finance problems. The first of the report's two parts presents…

Contemporary reforms lobby for deep changes in mathematics teaching and learning, yet classroom practice continues, in many places, to be as conventional as ever. This study examines how one mid-sized urban school district marshaled resources for change in mathematics instruction. The study involved a 3-year observation of a small group of…

Segregation still exists in several hundred major school districts. Thus the court cases will go on for some time. Some states may want to save time and develop desegregation plans before a case is brought against them. Plans must include educational improvement and some effort to involve metropolitan areas. (VM)

The most important education issue in terms of the volume of court cases and the impact on education has been racial isolation in schools. For decades the thrust has been on integrating the schools, but this goal has not been accomplished. Desegregation efforts have been frustrated and the problem of providing a quality education for all students…

The human drama in beginning St. Louis's desegregation plan is presented. As the chair of a citizen's committee, the author worked with the superintendent and the Board of Education to create a plan. Implementation was accomplished in a few months. The desegregation of suburban districts was settled in court. (VM)

Although American students have always been somewhat diverse, newly identified groups with special needs appear on community horizons every year. Education is one arena from which response to diversity is necessary. Ethnic, socioeconomic, disability, and gender status differ from one region to another making communities the ideal nexus for change.…

Urban schools are not, in and of themselves, the source of all the problems with respect to urban education. But 4.6 percent of public school districts enroll 46.3 percent of all the students in this country, and urban schools have a significant role to play in determining how well or how poorly America's youth are prepared to function in society.…

Aimed at eliminating the barriers to learning wrought about by poverty, Minneapolis and other urban school districts educate a substantial portion of poor and disadvantaged children and go nearly anywhere to hold parenting classes, homeless shelters, neonatal care units, high schools, and even jails. This article details the early childhood…

This brief reviews and analyzes issues surrounding public school financing, particularly for Latino communities and elementary school and secondary school education. A review of the current legal debate notes that there have been legal challenges to school financing since 1967, and that rulings have indicated that government has a responsibility…

This second part of the congressional hearings held in Washington, D.C., in February and March 1981, to reauthorize the Vocational Education Act of 1963 contains 17 pieces of testimony on the special needs of vocational education in rural and urban areas. Persons giving testimony included representatives of the following institutions: Houston…