The Aurora Public School System (Colorado) has devised a plan to ensure implementation of the adopted curriculum. By developing a program monitoring process and incorporating it in a handbook, staff can rate their behavior and use "green flags" or "red alerts" to characterize subject area strengths and deficiencies. (MLH)

In its 1982 long-range school improvement plan, the Muhlenberg (Pennsylvania) School District targeted mathematical computation skills, focusing on (1) developing a management information system to document student achievement; (2) redesigning the curriculum; (3) aligning regular and remedial mathematics programs; and (4) implementing a…

Now that regular elementary classroom teachers must plan their lessons around special "pull-out" programs, their responsibilities are compounded and their control over instructional time considerably diminished. This article discusses the benefits of parallel block scheduling as a possible solution. Includes seven endnotes. (MLH)

Although prepackaged curriculum and training program materials can save precious time, they can also negatively affect efforts to improve school and classroom discipline. Obedience models often yield quick results at the expense of developing responsible students who understand the important principles underlying school rules. (MLH)

Defends the Assertive Discipline model critiqued by Curwin and Mendler's article in the same "Educational Leadership" issue. This systematic approach is shown to be an effective and practical behavior management strategy leading to improved student and teacher self-concept, consistently positive reinforcement, and positive learning experiences.…

Discusses citizen efforts in Washington and Indiana to remove a thinking skills program espousing New Age Movement ideas from classrooms and mentions censorship efforts in 12 other states by groups opposing New Age religion and global education. Recommends administrators become familiar with the New Age Movement and secular humanism, study court…

Ernest Boyer, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, assesses the limits of reform, formulates the substantive questions needed to move reform to a higher level, and proposes a convocation of educators to plan reforms for the 21st century. (TE)

The History-Social Science Framework for California Public Schools, recently adopted by the California State Board of Education, focuses on three main goals: knowledge and cultural understanding, democratic understanding and civic values, and skills attainment and social participation. (TE)

This critique of E.D. Hirsch's book, "Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know," argues that because Hirsch confuses memorized facts with learned facts, he ignores the importance of constructing meaning and fails to realize that students will not remember what they do not understand. (TE)

This article is E.D. Hirsh's response to a foregoing critique of his book "Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know." He argues that the distorted image depicted by Estes, Gutman, and Harrison obscures the promise of the cultural literacy initiative to improve learning in our schools. (TE)

A group of concerned educators evaluates the well-publicized arguments for teaching students to be culturally literate. They argue that content and process instruction are inseparable and that teacher preparation and student assessment should both reflect a more thoughtful fusion of content and process. (TE)

Students often fail to apply knowledge and skills learned in one context to other situations. Although the implicit assumption in educational practice has been that transfer takes care of itself, a knowledge of the mechanisms of transfer can enable educators to help their students integrate general and local knowledge. (TE)

According to Matthew Lipman, director of the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children, philosophy is the best answer to the call for critical thinking because it provides experience in reasoning that will prepare children much better than the limited knowledge of the disciplines. (TE)

If schools are to succeed in teaching critical thinking, educators must have a clear idea of what it is. Critical thinking is skillful, responsible thinking that relies upon criteria, is self-correcting, and is sensitive to context. (TE)

Allan Glatthorn, author of "Curriculum Renewal," makes specific recommendations for the content of the English "mastery curriculum," grades 5 to 12. These include guidelines for the six strands of the English curriculum: literature, language, composition, speaking and listening, critical thinking, and vocabulary development. (TE)