School reformers have not been too radical, but have been unable to sustain their reforming energy and innovative thinking. Reformers are not "tinkering toward Utopia," but are relapsing into habit, meandering back into mediocrity. A remarkably coherent tradition of rethinking schooling is yielding to the forces of inertia, systemization, and…

Describes a high school English teacher's impromptu relationship with a troubled special-education student. Miles's satiric essay about a teacher literally blowing up in class helped revitalize the English teacher's efforts to improve his own students' writing skills. (MLH)

In most Hollywood teacher movies, a change toward the learning paradigm occurs after the teacher understands that the instructional paradigm is unworkable. Many real teachers refuse to make this shift because the learning-paradigm classroom is emotionally and intellectually demanding, requires more time for planning and critical reflection, and is…

Summarizes a case involving a teacher's use of a "magic rock" to enhance students' self-esteem. The teacher's eventual dismissal turned on unfavorable performance evaluations, not religious beliefs. The Eighth Circuit Court's decision to award front pay instead of reinstatement achieved the right result for the wrong reason, harbinging increasing…

The public continues to oppose allowing students and parents to choose a private school to attend at public expense, but favors government-paid tuition for students choosing to attend any public, private, or religious school. The public assigns local schools passing grades, likes schools' size, favors school prayer, and wants innercity schools to…

Describes the School Enrichment Model (SEM), a systematic set of strategies for increasing student effort, enjoyment, and performance and for integrating varied advanced learning experiences and higher-order thinking skills into existing curriculum or school organization patterns. SEM enhances three key school-improvement dimensions: the act of…

Debunks some goofy ideas--notions that schools control our economic destiny, money matters not in education, and American students' performance is uniformly dismal on international standardized tests. The United States offers more educational opportunities than other nations. Detractors and advocates of public education are given Rotten or Golden…

The breakdown or "dumbing down" occurring in today's public schools stems not from poorer teaching but from poorer parenting. The parents most responsible for making public school a priority were goaded by memories of the Great Depression. As prosperity increased, parental attitudes have changed. Citizens of some states (like Indiana) are too…

Firm evidence shows that formative assessment is an essential ingredient of classroom work and that its development can raise achievement standards. Achieving this goal demands a four-point scheme for teacher development: learning from development, a slow, yet steady dissemination process, reduction of obstacles, and substantive research efforts.…

Education's greatest threat is the death of dialectics. In Malaysia, government censorship thwarts debate; in America, corporate brainwashing achieves the same result. Consumers have embraced computer technology with too little public discourse. Infatuation with television (screen shadows) distracts people from the puppet master's motives and…

Chartered in 1990 by a consortium of 14 universities an colleges in the Chicago area, the Teachers Academy for Mathematics and Science aimed to improve the inservice training and professional development of K-8 math and science teachers. The accompanying Comprehensive School Development Process has four phases: readiness, instruction,…

Rebuts Alfie Kohn's article "Only for My Kid: How Privileged Parents are Undermining School Reform" in the April 1998 "Kappan." Kohn expects the author to pay a fortune for a home in an affluent community so his kids can get violence-prevention training and sing "Kumbaya" in a mainstreamed classroom. Earning the right to take an honors class…

Discusses a Texas sexual harassment case (Gebser v Lago Vista Independent School District involving a high-school English teacher and an eighth grader. Lower and federal courts favored the school district as to liability claims. In June 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court voted to adopt the actual notice standard, affirming dismissal of the plaintiff's…

Highlighting Massachusetts initiatives, examines the recent state movement toward adoption of curriculum frameworks and state assessments as vehicles for improving accountability and student achievement. Absence of standards guarantees stratified educational opportunities. Reform initiatives should include practitioners; avoid prescriptive,…

The dilemma of what to do with children who do not progress "normally" is not new, and did not arise because educators grew too timid to uphold academic standards. The problem is an unavoidable consequence of compulsory education. Advantages of social promotion still outweigh difficulties. Deterioration of school standards cannot be blamed on…