The recent flap over the Kansas State Board of Education's decision to drop knowledge of evolution theory from its science standards has rekindled the perennial science/religion debate in education. This article examines mutual relationships of three knowledge structures (science, mainstream religion, and fringe beliefs) and the middle-ground's…

Implementation costs for comprehensive school change designs (like the New American Schools models) vary widely. This article discusses the rationale and cost of each design element: principals and vice principals, instruction facilitators, classroom teachers, education specialists, struggling student strategies, professional development, teacher…

A study of Chicago school reform revealed that principals of productive elementary schools skillfully use various strategies to promote parents' and teachers' work with children. These include resolving highly visible problems quickly, focusing on the instructional core, adopting strategic orientation, attacking incoherence, involving parents, and…

As suggested by standard indicators--truancy, dropout rates, graffiti, vandalism, violence--youngsters in small schools rarely display the anger at the institution and its inhabitants that typifies Columbine and many other comprehensive high schools. Educators must cultivate learning communities and qualities (like empathy and compassion)…

Judicious Discipline is a comprehensive, democratic classroom-management approach based on constitutional principles that balance personal rights against social needs. After rights and responsibilities are introduced, students learn to govern their own behavior by assessing their actions in terms of time, place, and manner. Class meetings help…

After a yearlong first-grade teaching assignment, a professor of literacy studies shares insights about doing instruction versus lecturing about it. Explores scientific knowledge versus practical wisdom, tyranny of method versus centrality of personal relationships, visible versus invisible theories, reduction/simplicity versus complexity, and the…

Reasonable-sounding essays in the September 1999 "Kappan," advocating expansion of religion's influence in public education are fundamentally flawed by unstated assumptions and selective historical references. The wall of church/state separation is probably the best way to ensure religious freedom and protect both secular and religious worlds.…

Sewall argues that Alan Singer's denial of religion signifies a crabbed, intolerant view of human nature. Wright reaffirms his observations about universal values like the Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments. Lickona values religion's role in U.S. history, and Nord says religious viewpoints aid in understanding nature. (MLH)

Current reform efforts are politically inspired, fragmented, unsystematic, atheoretical, and costly. They ignore developmental limitations to student achievement. This article uses Piaget's cognitive notion of development and behaviorist principals of instructional design to support the existence of qualitative and quantitative limits to student…

Reviews evidence that refutes unfavorable portraits of American mathematics teachers in two books, "The Teaching Gap" (James Stigler and James Hiebert) and "Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics" (Liping Ma). Young students' difficulty with the "equals" concept can be addressed by teaching algebraic concepts throughout the elementary years.…

In 1996, a small group of Roman Catholic parents in a suburban New York district filed suit, claiming that a new program was promoting Satanism, occultism, and New Age spirituality. Activities included a Ganesha story, worry dolls, stories on Buddha and Quetzalcoatl, poetry writing, psychic phenomena, and a cemetery visit. To be continued. (MLH)

In November 1999, participants in "The McLaughlin Group," a weekly PBS talk show, peremptorily decided that progressive education and teacher preparation programs were to blame for public education's failings. This article also discusses teacher competency testing, expansion of alternative teacher certification in Colorado, and direct instruction…

Educator violence against students (verbal and physical assaults and the undermining of students' constitutional rights) erodes rather than enhances school safety. Unnecessarily harsh disciplinary practices create a violence-prone climate mirroring U.S. society--the most retributive of Western nations. Democratic classroom practices can help…

Prospects for reforming assessment are dim. Persistence of the "education crisis" is chiefly attributable to the testing industry's profit margins and its distrust of teachers--a ploy to preserve the educational power structure. Schools should be accountable to local communities, not corporate entities, as a Nebraska initiative shows. (Contains 22…

Adults participating in a Los Angeles "school family" network will be engaged for the next several years in the Annenberg Challenge--a national reform initiative aimed at improving student performance. Participation offers opportunities to develop a coherent K-12 education plan, access extra resources, and pursue collaborative professional…