Describes one district's struggle to implement Maine's Common Core of Learning, model of education that blurred subject area lines and moved toward integrated framework for curriculum and instruction. Common Core presented a set of outcomes divided into four interdisciplinary categories: human record, reasoning and problem solving, communication,…

Through a new curriculum model called World Class Education, Virginia hopes to encourage its schools to transform themselves voluntarily. The program is guided by six principles: focus on outcomes, school accountability, the assumption that all students can learn, the importance of collaboration and teamwork, the connectivity of learning, and the…

For over three years, University of Arizona staff have been reviewing middle school curricular materials in various content areas to identify exemplary models. Study disclosed only 1 exemplary mathematics curriculum (18-year-old Real Math series by Open Court) and only 1 superior science curriculum (Canadian Science Plus series). No comprehensive…

Texas has opened the door to electronic instructional media, allowing science students new ways to explore the world. Hands-on activities make science concepts real. Videodiscs provide teachers with rich instructional material, displaying still shots, graphics, and film clips on monitors. Students can now explore extreme weather conditions,…

Although California and New York have banned Channel One, the Whittle Communication Project reaches an estimated one-third of the nation's teenagers. A Midwest survey shows that students appear to enjoy the programing, though they show only an 8% gain in current events knowledge. Teachers felt extremely positive about Channel One's presentation of…

Whittle Communications' Channel One and Cable News Network's Newsroom are two popular media that facilitate the study of current events in U.S. classrooms. Atlanta and Austin public school teachers identified three issues: usage inconsistencies, problems in linking programs to instruction, and treatment of controversial content. There seemed to be…

Shows the gradual deterioration of the U.S. public education system, beginning with a hypothetical school district's acceptance of Channel One programing with two-minute commercials in 1990 and ending with Educate America's offer to pick up any costs not already borne by private enterprise (in exchange for adopting the group's curriculum) by 2010.…

Eugene (Oregon) Public Schools want to replace the traditional content-driven curriculum with a general concepts-based curriculum stressing the relationships among ideas. To help district educators understand the new model, a coin metaphor describing the two interlocking areas of curriculum (learning core conceptual knowledge and strategic…

Whatever its causes, racial isolation is social dynamite. Problems and destiny of America and American education cannot be separated from fate of American cities, which daily grow poorer, more violent, less socially cohesive, and more isolated. Problems cannot be addressed without taking racism into account. Schools can help students understand…

School desegregation opens increased opportunities for conflict without proper intervention to improve understanding and tolerance among students. Although students are more likely to have cross-racial and cross-ethnic friendships, racial discord is an accepted way of life for many. Schools can help by adopting appropriate policies, multicultural…

Future teachers need ongoing professional development that is systematic and focused on the problems of racism. They need additional means beyond college classes to examine their values, beliefs, and prejudices. Without this continued systematic examination, we could be condemning another generation of urban children to the purview of teachers who…

Good school helps children recognize their worth as individual human beings. Schools' most important responsibility is to affirm children. African-American and other parents are advised to experience school before choosing it. Is diversity celebrated? Are friendliness and racial diversity present among professional staff? Do African-American and…

Taunts from her Hispanic students spurred a Japanese-American second-grade teacher to develop a multicultural unit that helped children appreciate the culture they had previously jeered. Her goal is to help students develop cross-cultural acceptance and strategies to work through their own prejudices and to maintain their own dignity when they…

A private-school teacher explains her dissatisfaction with the proposed voluntary National Certification Board guidelines. If states retain license-issuing authority and local districts retain authority over employment, there are no national certification advantages for mobile faculty. A voluntary system would select against experienced certified…

National testing will not improve teacher's genius, students' prospects in life, or learning opportunities in school's immediate surroundings. Too much emphasis will be placed on comparisons among districts, counties, and states. Money will be pumped into raising scores, not decreasing class size or giving teachers more time to work with children.…