A Minnesota study showed that changing school starting times to accommodate adolescent sleep patterns profoundly affected many families. Implementation processes substantially influenced how families received changes. Policy makers should inform and involve all stakeholders, allow ample time, provide research-based justifications, support…

Using teacher surveys and focus groups, a University of Minnesota study examined the effects of changing school starting times on school operations at all levels and on the community. The least desirable start time was 9:40 a.m. at middle schools. Later schedules benefited high school students. No one schedule can accommodate everyone. (MLH)

After four years of implementation, the National Center for Education Statistics found that schools employing zero-tolerance policies are still less safe than those without such policies. Indiscriminate use of force is the hallmark of authoritarianism. Programmatic prevention, screening and early identification, and effective discipline policies…

Coordinated school-health programs such as South Carolina's Healthy School Initiative focus on key risks to health and learning; enjoy student, staff, and community support; and incorporate many disciplines, community groups, and agencies. Higher education institutions should become more involved, despite problems with developing common goals,…

A participant in Minnesota's standards-based reform initiative claims Wade Nelson, in his May 1998 "Kappan" article, is misinformed about teachers' exclusion from this movement. The standards constitute a minimal competence level in reading, math, and writing, were developed cooperatively, and have raised teacher expectations of students.…

Debra Eckerman's response to the author's May 1998 "Kappan" article shows she sincerely, but mistakenly believes that the Minnesota standards-based reform movement will raise academic expectations for all students by attempting to control educational outcomes. Teachers should jettison their complacency to improve professionalism and notions of…

Describes experiences of two elementary math teachers, whose dynamic, hands-on teaching techniques were at odds with components of the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System (KIRIS). Despite these teachers' successful efforts, the new Commonwealth Accountability and Testing System (CATS) replacing KIRIS will not contain portfolios. (12…

An exemplary teacher who perfected portfolio writing techniques with his seventh-graders fears that abandoning KIRIS (Kentucky Instructional Results Information System) for a more conventional testing system will discourage students' riskier ventures. Talented teachers must balance teaching writing as an artistic process with meeting concrete…

By upholding a student's refusal to provide a urine sample, the Seventh Circuit Court correctly avoided further erosion of the Fourth Amendment's privacy principle. In "New Jersey v T.L.O." (1995), the U.S. Supreme Court shrunk the probable-cause standard to reasonable suspicion in the special context of public schools, retaining the…

Following decades of mutual disengagement, coordinated school health programs (CSHPs) are emerging in response to the current state of children's health and education. CSHPs usually feature staff health promotion; health education; school health services; counseling, psychological, and social services; nutrition; physical education; a healthy…

Serves as an introduction to seven articles which focus on the differences between school renewal and school reform and their implications in a democratic society. Embedded in both terms are basic views of the world, human nature, and the way individuals do business. Renewal considers matters of justice, equity, and diversity; reform affirms…

As Arthur Schlesinger predicted, private interests are subverting public purpose. The narrative of economic utility dominates school reform. Reform language is not uplifting and embodies the traditional connotations of things gone wrong that need correcting. The language of renewal celebrates the self and reflects a supportive, caring ethos. (25…

Unlike systemic/academic reforms, renewal programs identify democratic education's central purposes and processes, interpret them in contemporary terms, and seek to strengthen them. The uniform standards movement may handicap these efforts by eliminating many student choices and discouraging the rational political discussion underlying liberal…

Orchestrating simultaneous renewal of schools and teacher education is possible in the presence of appropriate leadership, reformer diversity, program audits, accurate assessments, and a focus on the big picture. Public education is the glue that holds society together, not just a place where job skills are acquired. (MLH)

Neither standards/high-stakes testing nor privatization/charter-school improvement approaches will live up to proponents' ambitious claims. Standardized tests cannot uphold new performance goals. Charter schools serve limited numbers of students, siphoning off pedagogical reform energies that would benefit kids left behind. Rigor and innovation…