Parrot math (memorization) seeks to control children through external rewards and punishments, rather than harness their intelligence and curiosity. Recent standardized test results document parrot math's failure. Activities-based approaches, supported by a constructivist philosophy (involving classifying, inferring, generalizing, and…

A recent Thomas B. Fordham Foundation report rated California Mathematical Standards first among the states and ahead of Japan. There was nothing in the midcentury precollegiate mathematics curriculum that is irrelevant today or not required by competent schools. A national mathematics curriculum is reflected in the nation's standardized testing.…

The California Mathematics Standards are cynical, mind-numbing, and shallow. Instead of balancing problem solving, concept development, and skill acquisition, the standards are full of obsolete mathematics and devoid of problem solving. Students offering only an algorithm when asked for meaning have style without substance. Blind memorization is…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics formulated its Standards in response to a broad consensus demanding change. The Core-Plus Mathematics Project (CPMP) is an effective National Science Foundation-supported effort to design, prepare, evaluate, and disseminate curricular options for an NCTM standards-based high-school mathematics…

In the early 1990s, the National Science Foundation funded development of 13 comprehensive curriculum programs based on rigorous standards. Teachers, administrators, and parents should become informed about these curricula's unique characteristics and support structures to help schools adopt them. Sidebars list NSF programs and national…

As educators introduce new technology into a district, school, or classroom, it is important to take advantage of children's natural ability, enthusiasm, and willingness to master new skills. Certain activities such as journal writing, picture-digitizing projects, and designated student experts help place the power of technology squarely in…

Baker and Riordan express disappointment with Father Greeley's sharp comments concerning their September 1998 "Kappan" article. Their major point was that 1990s Catholic schools are no longer educating the disadvantaged, due to changing demographics. Father Greeley's second rebuttal deplores Baker and Riordan's gratuitous scholarship and…

In an uncertain teaching world, neophyte teachers should be provided with tools to perceive dilemmas with intelligence and sensitivity and make thoughtful, informed decisions to guide their actions. Learning to apply knowledge to practice requires going beyond what one sees and hears, analyzing the situation's meaning, and acting appropriately.…

Since its inception in 1994, the Michigan Educators' Exchange Opportunities Program has allowed nearly 300 K-12 educators to spend approximately 2 1/2 weeks in one of over a dozen countries. Michigan teachers stay in the homes of foreign colleagues and vice versa. This reciprocity benefits Michigan teachers and students. (MLH)

A Hudson Institute study claims school administration is top-heavy. Actually, U.S. teachers constitute 78% of the instructional staff, which includes principals, assistant principals, librarians, and counselors. A 1998 OECD report shows that some nations have surpassed the U.S. graduation rate. The U.S. spends the most on higher education. (MLH)

A wrongful arrest/racial discrimination suit in Livingston, Texas ended unfavorably for the parents of an African-American fifth-grader complaining of unfair treatment by his teacher and classmates. The parents' complaint should have been remedied, short of their having to make a federal case of miscommunication. (MLH)

Staff at disadvantaged schools lacking sufficient technology must take matters into their own hands. Guerilla technology tactics include finding all the hidden technology on campus, scanning the school budget carefully, helping others spend their technology money, and scrounging free computers at universities and local businesses. (MLH)

Privatization in disintermediated nations wears a different face. Canada's once-sovereign powers are being offered up to economic blocs (particularly the Asian Pacific Economic Community), the equivalent of corporate headquarters. Canadians are swept downstream in the global race to work cheaper and expect less, a transformation requiring schools'…

The model currently guiding educational policy development--constructing crises and crafting solutions--has a long, unproductive history. To shrug off American education's perpetual crisis mode, educators should expand their descriptive vocabularies, apply the "so what" test, adopt demonstrably effective solutions, eschew a crisis orientation, and…

As the Annenberg Institute's National School Reform Faculty collect, present, and consider their cooperative efforts, they offer beginnings of a theoretical framework for teacher portfolios and practical guidelines for their construction and presentation. Teachers can use portfolios to demonstrate improvement, tackle important questions, and…