Mountains of data over 10 years show that the educational sky is not falling. This article deplores critics' disregard of the Sandia Report, American policymakers' test-craziness and education/economic productivity obsessions, the overrated "Texas Miracle," National Education Goals, and weighty student backpacks. (MLH)

Critiques Jerry Becker and Bill Jacob's article on the politics of California school mathematics in the March 2000 "Kappan" for characterizing current California standards as a return to the past. Mathematicians are apolitical, but must coordinate K-12 curriculum frameworks with college-level math courses. (MLH)

In 1997, Milgram and three other university mathematicians substantially revised the draft California mathematics standards. Changes were accepted by the state Board of education without seeking public or teacher input, circumventing public process. Content knowledge is no substitute for knowledge of how students develop mathematical…

Many private schools accepting public and private voucher funding use instructional materials that transmit profoundly conservative values. Content of texts produced by A Beka Books and Bob Jones University Press is virtually identical to materials produced and disseminated by the Christian Right and other conservative groups. (Contains 42…

The current obsession with standardizing curricula and measuring output may further reduce teacher agency and marginalize segments of our society that are already cheated by the system. Enormous discrepancies exist among public-school facilities, resources, and teachers. Multicultural education will suffer unless legislatures address these…

A former U.S. Commissioner of Education during Lyndon Johnson's administration discusses his 50-year educator career and his views about leadership responsibility, school desegregation, funding for black colleges, the limitations of poverty and standardized tests, and putting excellent teachers in charge of teacher preparation programs. (MLH)

The Middle School Initiative, an ambitious plan to convert all New York City junior high schools to middle schools, faced numerous obstacles: loss of leadership support, teacher cynicism and resistance, blindness to difficulties, union regulations, pressures for quick results, administrator retirement incentives, and collaboration problems. (MLH)

Of 27 countries in a World Health Organization survey, American children report the most physical complaints, Portuguese children are most kind to one another, and Lithuanians watch more TV. U.S. and Czech teens are great dieters. Northern Irish, Scottish, and Finnish youngsters love computer games. (MLH)

In a June 2000 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a southern Texas district's policy authorizing student-led and student-initiated prayer at football games violates the Establishment Clause. The Court viewed this policy as having a sham secular purpose and a primary effect of endorsing religion. (MLH)

An African-American education professor describes the positive influences that a favorite elementary-school music teacher, also African-American, had on her development. Miss McGruder played the piano enthusiastically and sang classical, old standards, soul, and rock-and-roll music, urging students to sing along. (MLH)

A former substitute teacher explains how she won first-graders' attention and significantly improved deportment by pretending to be a Martian with different communication modes and hearing capabilities than terrestrials. Children painlessly learn tips on listening, communicating, and engaging in friendly behaviors. (MLH)

Whining about not being treated as professionals buys teachers little respect. Teaching is hard work, but confers some plush benefits, while discouraging voluntary self-improvement efforts. The notion that pay should be commensurate with work is a noble delusion. Nannies and mothers are also underpaid. (MLH)

The teacher as a "sage on the stage" is being eclipsed by the learning facilitator, or "guide on the side." While there is room for constructivist methodologies, the rage against expertise and repetitive or rote learning practices is misguided. Students deserve a chance to learn from real experts. (MLH)

Alan Krueger's reanalyses of Eric Hanushek's school-productivity data show that Hanushek's "money doesn't matter" conclusions (influential in several states' education-finance hearings) have no factual basis. Hanushek excluded Tennessee's student/teacher ratio study (Project STAR). Also, class size is influencing students' success in voucher…

A mother in rural Illinois who demonstrated against a dress-code policy at a school board meeting by brandishing a toy gun was banned from future school activities and filed suit. Courts upheld the board's policy of imposing reasonable restrictions on time, place, and manner of free speech. (MLH)