Religious conservatives and political libertarians share a family-centered vision of home schooling. Conservatives' home-schooling plans are usually based on Christian ethics and feature a core group of subjects--reading, writing, mathematics, science, religious studies, and history. The author and his wife, both certified teachers and…

A Texas elementary school is meeting home-school parents halfway by fostering a once-weekly project involving adolescent, home-schooled tutors and fifth and sixth graders. The home-schooled kids get a break from their routine, and the public schoolers benefit from help with academic subjects and community service projects. (MLH)

In 1991, the Iowa legislature enacted dual-enrollment legislation allowing Iowa's home-schooling students to enroll in their district for academic programs, participate in extracurricular activities, and use the area education agency's services. This article tells how a home-schooling parent worked with a principal to create a program serving 37…

The Edison Project will reconfigure time, deploy truly professional teachers, and utilize technologies in powerful new ways. Other Edison design highlights include its research basis; clear, defining values; high universal standards; five-domain curriculum; proven, individualized instructional methods; creative organization; true accountability;…

Tainted by failure, rooted in myth, and marked by questionable practice, public-private partnerships in education are risky. Performance contracting failed miserably in the 1970s. Faulty privatization rationales include myths surrounding SAT test scores and the "bloated bureaucracy" and "money doesn't matter" arguments. Neither the Edison Project…

Although urban public school educators are not achieving optimal results, there is no evidence that for-profit educational companies will do any better or possess special expertise in educating poor students of color. Education Alternatives, Inc. has trouble retaining low-paid nonunion paraprofessionals and has cut out minority contractors. The…

By pooling talents and resources of seasoned educators and the private sector, Education Alternatives, Inc. is invigorating school systems in several urban areas, including Dade County, Florida; Baltimore, Maryland; and Hartford, Connecticut. A private-public partnership has two advantages over conventionally managed districts: readily available…

Educators cannot withstand the inevitable advance of alternative education and privatization efforts. Luckily, no one alternative will become the ultimate solution. Visionary educators can respond by adapting to new management and governance concepts, expecting increased accountability, creating teams, maintaining a customer orientation, planning…

The (media-induced) aura of failure surrounding schools is so pervasive that even friends of education misinterpret data. Four Bracey reports published in "Phi Delta Kappan" amassed substantial positive evidence, but the media choose to accentuate the negative. Given the severe decline in other social institutions, schools are performing rather…

The central idea in W. Edwards Deming's approach to quality management is the need to improve process. Outcome-based education's central defect is its failure to address process. Deming would reject OBE along with management-by-objectives. Education is not a product defined by specific output measures, but a process to develop the mind. (MLH)

Outcome-based education (OBE) advocates use mechanistic terminology suggestive of the business world, not organic words embodying reflection, serendipity, and discovery. With OBE, outside experts prescribe what is best for students and teachers, who remain essentially voiceless. Teaching is defined in technical dimensions. Such linear,…

Concern over the moral condition of American society is spawning a new character-education movement requiring teachers to create a moral community, practice moral discipline, foster classroom democracy, teach values through the curriculum, stress cooperative learning and conflict resolution, and foster caring beyond the classroom. (MLH)

Defying "liberal" and "conservative" labels, Communitarianism is a new social movement reflected in George Bush's endorsement of family values and Bill Clinton's calls for community service. Communitarianism does not uphold the individual's rights at all costs, nor impose moral solutions. The Communitarian agenda is to personalize schooling and…

Schools must provide opportunities for students to discover what is most worth knowing, as they prepare to be citizens, good workers, good private individuals. Formal curriculum is one vehicle for teaching Tao (universal path to becoming a good person). Hidden curriculum can also convey profound teachings, if a spirit of fairness predominates,…

In fall 1990, 25 Los Angeles elementary and middle schools piloted a multifaceted character-education program that diminished discipline referrals and improved student achievement. (MLH)