Public support for improving public schools over seeking alternatives remains high (70%). Opposition to private contracting is growing. Fully 79% of public-school parents think schools effectively prepare students for the labor market; 72% want higher promotion standards. Inadequate discipline, violence, and scanty funding remain top problems.…

Parents and private schools are generally satisfied with Milwaukee's voucher program. Four results are fairly negative: loss of active parents from public schools; student attrition from private schools; closure of four private schools; and lower achievement-test scores. Also, proponents are using dubious findings to support unwarranted program…

Research on choice (particularly publicly funded voucher programs) reveals that voucher parents with youngsters in private schools are pleased with the opportunity; voucher programs can be structured to provide additional choice for at-risk students; few eligible families apply for tuition vouchers; and academic achievement results remain…

The American people do not favor tax support for private or parochial schools. The issue of vouchers has been placed before the electorate 22 times since 1966, and the voters have rejected it 21 times. It makes little sense for state and national legislators to continue to press for unwanted programs. (MLH)

Governor Jeb Bush and a Republican-dominated legislature have legislated a sweeping revision of the Florida education code that could qualify 150,000 of the state's 2.3 million public-school students for vouchers. A convenient diversion from true school reform, Bush's Opportunity Scholarship Program will be judged unconstitutional. (MLH)

Catholic schools are more multifaceted and diverse than the school-effects debate and rancorous voucher issue indicate. They now educate more affluent kids, as critics claim, since demographics have changed. Catholic schools should be part of the national discussion on education and be viewed as complementary to public schools. (MLH)

Positive Peer Groups (PPG) is a leadership training program that helps alienated and disengaged students bond to school via participation in school-oriented service activities stressing work, discipline, and responsibility. Students form affiliations with peers involved in the same efforts. Results in Ohio schools are encouraging. (MLH)

Intended to improve school safety by ensuring student compliance with rules, zero tolerance has become an excuse to treat all children needing corrective measures the same. An alternative approach, "Tough as Necessary," balances strength with fairness, incorporates school-specific values, and establishes and enforces differentiated consequences.…

Society's demand for specialization discourages teachers from becoming skilled generalists. The result is intellectual impoverishment for schools and children. The greatest challenge is teaching students to think in holistic terms. Students must look beyond telecomputing to explore ideas and discover how technology itself is shaping their…

Highlighting Success for All, this article argues that federal funds are being used to support the promulgation and biased evaluation of failed programs. Educators need to beware of conflicts of interest and developers' misleading claims about publicly and privately developed programs. Independent evaluators are needed. (MLH)

In this same "Kappan" Issue, Walberg and Greenberg mistakenly allege that Success for All was developed for ulterior (financial) motives, is based on questionable research, and has had poor results. Literacy achievement has not risen for 70 years. Success for All is no panacea but is tackling this problem. (10 references) (MLH)

Responding to Bruce Joyce's rebuttal in this same "Kappan" issue, authors reiterate conflict-of-interest concerns and evidence regarding Success for All's failure to improve academic achievement in Miami and elsewhere. Expensive programs unsupported by research distract attention from well-established principles for improving student achievement.…

To help teacher educators and others become better consumers of the teacher standards currently on the market, this article presents and analyzes some claims typically advanced for such standards. All proposals, whether research-based or representing professional consensus, must be respectfully received, reviewed, and discussed. (16 references)…

Chronicles the nation's testing madness, highlighting the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System's foibles, including its categorizations of "test-effective" teachers. Examines research on private/public school comparisons, failure of a Chilean voucher system, a privatization conference's testimonial proceedings, the class-size controversy,…

The debate over national history standards is so fixated on "which history" that the importance of studying history is being overlooked. History humanizes us in ways that few other curricular areas can. Three classroom vignettes illustrate the difficulties of achieving mature historical understanding in a Disney/MTV-dominated culture. (53…