Urban teachers' unions, as mature institutions, face three dilemmas: ensuring a steady supply of quality teachers while limiting supply to raise demand and salaries; seeking to become a more powerful national voice for teachers; and striving to preserve large, monopolistic public education while being aware of the need to reform, restructure, and…

Explores "alternative delivery systems" in inner-city education, the variety of programs and schools available to children being educated in the urban centers. Traces the origins of the problems of urban schools, describes the articles of this special issue, and identifies themes that emerge in attempts to solve urban school problems. Contains 18…

Examines the effects of urban private and religious schools on concepts of diversity, choice, funding, and results. Urban private schools, far more important to U.S. education than their numbers and size might indicate, will continue their growth and diversity in the future. Contains 44 references. (SLD)

Examines educational changes--and theoretical and technical advances--making possible the collection of usable and appropriate information on school-site and classroom-level spending, and the legal precedents for using school spending in determining equity and thus the legality of public education funding structures. Final comments address the…

Explores (1) the changing private school universe, marked by increases in religious diversity; (2) shifts in private school concentration from the Northeast and Great Lakes regions, to the South, Far West, and midsection of the nation; and (3) the rising size and power of the private school sector, and implications for educational policymaking.…

Increasing enrollments in elementary and secondary schools and declining enrollments in teacher education programs threaten the nation's supply of teachers for the near future, especially in the South and West. (GC)

Presents a new way of looking at school organization, refined through efforts to understand why some free schools have grown and flourished while others have floundered and closed. (Author/JM)

Discusses school power structures. Cites the following examples of "bottom-up" authority: (1) vouchers; (2) magnet schools; and (3) open enrollment. Suggests a new model in which the larger school districts function as "holding companies" and individual schools function as "subsidiaries" of the parent company. (FMW)