Describes experiences of teachers, administrators, and students in a freshman academy in a medium-sized midwestern city high school designed to help ninth-graders, many with at-risk behaviors, to make smooth transitions from middle school to high school. (PKP)

Based on information from interviews with 50 first- and second-year teachers in Massachusetts, proposes a mixed model for the teaching career: one that would be responsive to the needs of both teachers who envision long-term careers and those who envision short-term stays in teaching. Draws implications for teacher recruitment and retention…

Argues that performance-based pay for teachers, spawned by the standards movement, will have a deleterious effect on students' education and teachers' careers. Also discusses origin of a system of administration termed New Public Management and its influence in shaping political support for standards-based education and performance-based pay.…

Response to article in December 2000 "Phi Delta Kappan" by James Scheurich, Linda Skrla, and Joseph Johnson in support of the Texas Accountability System. Discusses flaws in the article's historical possibilities thesis and the inaccurate characterization of accountability as a dichotomy. Advocates Coalition for Authentic Reform Education…

Authors' largely conciliatory response to the Valencia, Valenzuela, Sloan, and Foley article in this issue of the "Kappan" critical of their December 2000 article in support of the Texas Accountability System. (Contains 14 references.) (PKP)

Discusses five key concepts of career-education movement and their implications for education reform: Work, students and teachers as workers, infusion, collaboration, and career development. Also discusses studies evaluating the effectiveness of career-education programs. (PKP)

Reflects on experience as participant in a Reggio Emilia study tour in Italy. Compares educational philosophy and practices in municipal preschools of Reggio Emilia with those of preschools in the United States. (Contains 10 references.) (PKP)

Suggests that federal definition of learning disabilities is wrong and represents politically expedient decisions rather than fundamental knowledge about psychology and education. Discusses why federal definition is erroneous. Offers seven recommendations to change the current system of identification and instruction of students with learning…

Discusses basis for Kentucky appellate court decision that state's no-pass, no-drive statute did not violate due-process and equal-protection clauses of the Kentucky and federal constitutions, but did violate the federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, but nevertheless did not invalidate the statute. Explains why the decision is…

Efforts to desegregate schools since the 1954 "Brown" decision have only partly succeeded. Racial and economic segregation still limits minority and poor children's educational opportunities. A new educational civil rights movement must replace authoritarian, antidemocratic standards and tests with diverse schools, staff, pedagogies, standards,…

The National Reading Panel admits its evaluation report on phonics is seriously flawed as to organization, methodology, appropriateness of research base, generalizability of results, reliability, validity, and accuracy of data reported. However, an influential public-relations machine is promoting the study's favorable results as unvarnished…

Stories create opportunities for readers to consider values that guide human action in both the imaginary context of a tale and the real context of their lives. Stories provide insight, but never closure. Students who read both novels and textbooks score better than those reading only one format. (MLH)

Recently, the International Technology Education Association and its Technology for All Americans Project published "Standards for Technological Literacy," specifying what every K-12 student should know and be able to do. Two Virginia Tech researchers have illustrated how the standards might work in a laboratory classroom using a transportation…

In a learning community, students learn to cooperate and make teams work. Past technologies (print, photography, film, and computers) have enabled idea sharing, but are one-way communication modes. Broader learning communities have been made possible through electronic field trips, online mentoring, science investigations, and humanities…

How did educators become enslaved to networked computers and mesmerized by iridescent screens? The computer encourages endless acquisitions, some motivated by intellectual avarice, others by petty jealousies incited by colleagues raving about the latest "innovation." How much computer literacy is sufficient? What other literacies must educators…