The rationale, implementation, and impact of the Promotional Gates Program are reported by a New York City Board of Education executive director. The program combines a stiffened promotion policy with special remedial services for students failing to meet minimal standards at grades four and seven. (MJL)

This literature review cautions that the issue of whether promotion or retention is more beneficial to student achievement is especially murky when it becomes a political decision. It concludes that grade retention seems to ignore the question of instructional effectiveness, blames the child for failure, and absolves the school of responsibility.…

When teachers can accept being angry at students for violating rules, then teachers will be free to create discipline techniques designed to inspire student growth and success rather than to reassert teachers' power. (MLF)

Classroom management and discipline are dimensions of teachers' professional competence skills that develop as pedagogical skills first, then control skills, finally humanistic skills. Suggestions from three authors to help teachers reach the level of humanistic discipline are offered. (MLF)

Involving students in setting the standards and consequences of classroom behavior can help schools build a discipline policy. The six elements of a social contract are explained. (MLF)

Treatment of key variables (resource allocation, instructional quality, and implementation methods) in the Mainstreaming Computers Project involved (1) linking keyboards with one computer; (2) developing criteria for selecting software, sample programs, and a language for writing software; and (3) increasing teacher productivity by assisting…

Introductory article in a new column that will provide a vehicle for educators to share experiences and ideas on how computers or other forms of technology affect themselves and their schools. (MLF)

The lesson of educational change failures in the sixties is that educational change requires staff initiation and control as well as support from the surrounding culture. Recent studies point to a new agenda for educational change in the eighties that will succeed only if the mistakes of the sixties are avoided. (JM)

A recent study suggests that the broad idealistic educational objectives voiced by states and districts are a far cry from what is really being taught in classrooms. The question that now must be faced is what we want schools to teach. (JM)

The author maintains that John Goodlad's rigid insistence (in an article in this issue) on the school's accomplishment of idealistic and lofty goals is unrealistic and unfair. These goals are merely something to work toward. (JM)

Attempts to integrate the findings of John Goodlad's "A Study of Schooling" described in another article in this issue with the findings of the effective schools movement. (JM)

In basic agreement with an article by John Goodlad in this issue, the author briefly outlines steps a school can take to reassess its goals and formulate an improvement program. (JM)

In response to an article by John Goodlad in this issue, the author describes an unconventional program in his own school and recommends examining such successful programs as well as our educational failures. (JM)

Agrees with John Goodlad's analysis of schooling in an article in this issue but disagrees with those who maintain that parents want babysitting rather than education. (JM)

Improvement of education will require looking at schools from the inside and collaboration not only among schools but also among the many other institutions that educate. (JM)