Supervision is supposed to improve classroom teaching by enhancing teacher thinking, rejection, and understanding of teaching. Evaluation systems are supposed to increase effective teaching behaviors and enhance teacher professionalism. Through the lens of symbolic interaction, we learn that "supposed to" does not matter. In a context of increased…

Argues that because there is no overall teacher shortage, but rather specific subject area shortages and adverse selection and allocation problems, the No Child Left Behind Act's requirements that all teachers be "highly qualified" is important and attainable. To improve teacher quality, teacher certification should be modernized and principals…

Differences among states' average SAT scores are almost entirely attributable to differences in percentage of test takers, parent education and income of test takers, and the high school rank and GPA of the test takers rather than to the quality of the states' education systems. Recommends changes in interpreting and reporting SAT scores.…

Challenges many of the assertions, inferences, and recommendations of the Merchant and Paulson article "State Comparisons of SAT Scores: Who's Your Test Taker?". (Contains five references.) (PKP)

Describes origin and elements of the standards movement. Reviews research on grade retention and social promotion and concludes that both are failed strategies to improve student achievement. Describes principal's role in meeting standards. Discusses the use of systemic and classroom interventions to help students meet state standards. (Contains…

Like other parents who phoned her at work, a dedicated associate commissioner of education grew increasingly frustrated with a system that failed to challenge her children. She enrolled them in a private alternative school that stressed community and viewed education as a privilege demanding great student effort. (MLH)

A former National Teacher of the Year discusses leadership's joys and difficulties. Teacher leaders must speak up about conditions limiting their effectiveness and policies restraining their positive momentum. This means engaging in continuous professional development and comporting themselves as professional educators who know what is best for…

Most teenagers are hungry for more interactions with adults and for new, challenging experiences. The community-school approach supports young people's academic, social, and interpersonal goals by creating learning and caring connections in and out of class, before and after school, using a community's total resources. (MLH)

Most courts have flexibly interpreted the constitutional requirement of procedural and substantive due process in favor of zero-tolerance expulsion decisions. While being sensitive to community intolerance for threats to school safety (student possession of guns or drugs), school leaders should modulate development and enforcement of expulsion…

In this interview, a high school art teacher explains why her initial enthusiasm for block scheduling evaporated. Problems arose with foreign-language instruction, science labs, lesson planning, field trips, space utilization, supplies, and overenrollment in elective subjects like music and art. Teachers had little control or administrative…

The environment most characterizing today's public schools is continuous change, spurred by increased demands for performance and accountability. However, discontinuous change, in which organizations must question basic operating assumptions, is imminent. Continuous learning must be built into an organizations' fabric and it needs acceptable…

Helping every youngster reach his or her potential is a daunting task, but it can be done. Site-based administrators who incorporate leadership guidelines that define the vision, create a positive climate, initiate action, and advocate an equitable learning environment for all students will awaken one day to discover that all students are…

A visiting Fulbright scholar/principal from Capetown, South Africa, spent a semester observing elementary, middle, and high school classes in the eastern United States. His observations about student absenteeism, school counselors, discipline, inclusive programs, transportation modes, and library facilities evoke contrasting images of daily school…

The 1996 Telecommunications Act will help breach the gap between information haves and have nots by stimulating competition. Half of US schools are wired for Internet. Only 10% have local area networks. Curricula have not kept up with technological advancements. If government plays a catalyst role, communities everywhere can create high-tech…

We have conspired, consciously or unconsciously, to create the multimedia environments in our homes and neighborhoods. Educators must create, consciously and cautiously, a similar technologically rich, media-literate learning environment for schools. To accomplish this, they must learn to recognize the "invisible" technologies (in learning spaces,…