Provides an integrative review of experimental treatment studies on the teaching of composition in the past two decades. Assesses the effectiveness of different modes of instruction and different focuses of instruction. Outlines the implications of the results for policy at local, state, and national levels and for future research. (RDN)

This overview considers some of the pervasive problems in defining and developing literacy education in the U.S., including the selection of curriculum content, the development of skilled reading and writing, and the development of a theory of learning and instruction. (RDN)

Argues that the personal commitments of teachers, common sense, and normative requirements can be valid bases for action. Asserts that overreliance on research knowledge is unwarranted: its value lies primarily in the scientific ethos and in processes of inquiry and only secondarily in the facts researchers lay claim to. (Author/KH)

Explores conflicts between plaintiff in educational reform litigation and examines decisions, interviews, and case histories of disputes over busing, mainstreaming, and deinstitutionalization. Next, discusses the inadequacies of existing procedural mechanisms for coping with such problems, with a focus on the litigation of courts in dealing with…

Outlines a model of educational change in state school systems. Argues that the enactment of compulsory attendance marks the formal beginning of a state system and that then the newly-formed institution begins to undergo self-generating change. (KH)

In the current educational reform movement, the most sobering issue is the relationship between achievement and race. None of the recent major educational reform reports face up to the reality that raising minimum standards and imposing minimum requirements simply increase the failure rate among Blacks. (CMG)

Identifies "universal" themes of educational reform reports: improved teacher salaries/teacher quality; more traditional curricula with higher percentage of required courses; higher achievement standards; improved discipline; and stronger school-business ties. Criticizes reports for not tackling problems of principal-teacher authority…

Several experimental studies are reviewed, the results of which suggest that students often fail to acquire an understanding of some of the concepts, relationships, principles, and processes that are fundamental to traditional high school course material. Questions of what it means to understand something and of how to assess understanding are…

Discusses the exhortation to teachers--"Know your students"--as requiring not only knowing that students feel certain ways but also knowing what it is like to have such feelings. Five distinct senses of "feeling the same way" are identified and discussed in pedagogical contexts. (Author/RDN)

Penmanship began as art restricted to specially trained scribes. As education spread, the need for a simplified system of penmanship became apparent. As certain systems were adopted by the schools, penmanship became standardized and greater emphasis was placed on speed to meet the demands of a business and technological society. (Author/RDN)

Examines the negative outcomes of the mandatory external primary school-leaving certificate examination administered to Irish sixth-graders, 1943-67. Concludes that the Irish experience should warn American educators of the possible dangers of using minimum competency tests as the sole or primary determinant of decisions concerning grade-to-grade…

Examines the history of German language instruction in American elementary schools (focusing on four midwestern school districts) in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Highlights past administrative and political developments and issues that remain of concern for bilingual education programs today. (Author/MJL)

A study among high school geometry students found no sex differences in ability to write geometry proofs. The findings and data from other studies suggest that girls and boys perform equally well on complex mathematics tasks when exposure to the task is equal. (Author/MJL)

In an urban magnet middle school serving mostly minority, poor, and low achieving students, the presence of high levels of interracial interaction and positive student-teacher relationships was attributed to the school's curricular, academic reward, and classroom activity structures, and to a faculty subculture that encouraged teachers to foster…

Discusses how declines in enrollments, budgets, public confidence in schooling, and the legitimacy of administrative authority have politicized the educational environment. Discusses distinctive features of politics and management of decline, how decline has prompted a policy reassessment, and competing explanations for failures and problems with…