Students know what good teaching looks like--but educators rarely ask them. See what these high school students, who are members of the Future Educators Association[R] and want to be teachers themselves, said. FEA is a part of the PDK family of education associations, which includes Pi Lambda Theta. Get insider advice on good teaching from some…

For fifteen years, the presenter has engaged college students in discussions and writing assignments that pertain to the outstanding characteristics of their most effective teachers--"effective" meaning that these teachers made the most significant impact on their lives. Based on those recurring themes, the conclusion is that effective teachers…

In this article, the author answers the question: "Why do Americans love to reform the public schools?" His answer has three parts. First, there is an old and persistent cultural strain in American history, derived from many sources, that seeks human perfection and sees education and schooling as essential to that perfectibility. That goal is high…

In this article, the author comments on a new book entitled Horace Mann's Vision of the Public Schools: Is It Still Relevant? According to him, the book does succinctly summarize current controversies in education including technology, school finance, and No Child Left Behind, and the writing is informed. However, aside from the first twenty-seven…

Most of us who are parents would pay an attorney a lot of money to prevent the unjust incarceration of one of our children in a confined space with psychopaths, wouldn't we? So just why are we paying the government a lot of money to unjustly incarcerate nearly all of our children in confined spaces with psychopaths? Most of us try hard to stay…

Schools of equal educational quality need not be identical, and the recent trend toward increased choice and diversity in American schooling has if anything made the system more equitable for children who previously had no choice but to attend poorly performing schools. That is not to say that all forms of school choice are good public policy:…

In 2002, when the U.S. Supreme Court legalized public vouchers for use in religious schools (Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, 122 S. Ct. 2460), the battle over school choice, rather than being ended, was actually begun in earnest. But now the fight involves "Blaine amendments": statelevel constitutional amendments passed in the nineteenth century to…

In today's climate of grading schools and blaming teachers, educators more than ever need to understand exactly what they do well. It is hard for educators to resist being overcome by all the negativity, and even harder to maintain their motivation each day. In this article, the author discusses how National School Reform Faculty (NSRF) and…

For more than two decades, the United States has been struggling to improve public education. In April 1983 the federal report "A Nation at Risk" stunned the nation with its dire warning that "a rising tide of mediocrity" was swamping our schools. A spate of articles and editorials on the occasion of its twentieth anniversary last spring concluded…

For those who would like to see Ron Wolk's vision of schools realized, the challenge of scaling up is the most daunting one faced. Skeptics like to say, "Oh well, that 'X' and 'Y' did something really special is irrelevant; they're exceptions." But the author's experience suggests that today's exceptions can become tomorrow's norms. If that is to…

Both the promises and the inadequacies of standards-based education bring us Ron Wolk's expansively "bold undertaking" on behalf of thoughtful educators. His essay asks school reformers to consider educating children more important than sending them to school. He encourages educators to take the ideas they exchange with peers in casual…

Much criticism has it that teachers are ill prepared in college for the reality of their jobs in schools. Little attention has been paid, however, to how teachers are subjected, once they have been hired, to group-think processes of indoctrination, usually called "staff development." Staff development works not infrequently to increase their…

Dedicated educators, struggling with the mandates of "No Child Left Behind" will immediately identify with the hero of this allegory. Horace is a small frog, who has a passion for gardening, and watching flowers bloom. As soon as he comes of age, Horace decides to pursue his great love of nurturing tender blooming things. He studies, diligently,…

Reviews the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) national standards and guidelines for physical activity and discusses effective approaches to physical education: time for practice, appropriate practice, content sequencing, cognitive engagement, and task-specific communication. (Contains 54 references.) (JOW)

In the opinions of 52 high schools students who kept journals regarding their feelings about school, schools are irrelevant, dull, sterile, or worse; they despised unenthusiastic teachers teaching uninteresting lessons from textbooks. The increased emphasis on testing and accountability will probably will not change these opinions. (JOW)