A few Structured English Immersion programs have been developed and tested in the past two decades. The experience of these programs, especially Seattle's, can provide much-needed guidance to California's schools and reformers of bilingual programs. Although not necessarily an all-English program, SEI employs the original language less extensively…

Peggy Farber's stories (in the March 1998 "Kappan") about a few individuals at Boston Renaissance Charter School have a place in evaluating the program. However, the real story cannot be drawn from a few isolated, highly selective anecdotes. A balanced evaluation would have framed the discussion around the schools' progress with special-needs…

John Chubb, in his November 1998 "Kappan" article, does not dispute the accuracy of the author's observations about the Boston Renaissance Charter School. It was the author's job (as a journalist) to report widely held descriptions of controversial, harsh disciplinary practices, not present a story Chubb would find favorable. Chubb rejected an…

Voluntary national tests based on national and international benchmarks can be powerful tools for change in all schools. The tests would help monitor students' progress at two key educational junctures--fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math. Tests would be based on the National Assessment of Education Progress content frameworks and…

Oddly, most religious controversy in public schools concerns school-sponsored rituals or student expression outside the classroom, not teaching of religious ideas. Reforms such as vouchers or tax credits would not violate the Establishment Clause, as they do not favor a particular religion. Instead, they demonstrate fairness to all parents,…

President Clinton's "Religious Expression in the Public Schools" guidelines, based on 50 years of court rulings, have proved useful and helped reduce controversy. Problems continue in three areas: proselytizing by adults, musical programs falling short of the desired neutrality, and teaching appropriately about religion. Other curricular…

In Bangor, Maine, a seamless, continuous-progress performance assessment in reading is evolving--all because 24 first-grade teachers objected to using standardized achievement tests. Teachers have developed the Bangor Assessment of Reading (BAR), a triennial process of assessing fluency, meaning construction, comprehension, reading strategies, and…

Although teacher unions promote private means of resolving labor conflicts instead of using public courts, they are engaged in a war on privatization, especially contracting out. It is surprising that the media and higher education take seriously the contention that unions do not negatively affect educational achievement. Advocates of "the new…

There is no common ground between the views of Myron Lieberman and those of the American Federation of Teachers. Lieberman is a self-proclaimed right-wing extremist; union members are "small d" democrats committed to reforming education, not preserving the status quo, as he claims. Lieberman has been an enemy of unions ever since his unsuccessful…

Although the immediate, primary mission of the Peace Corps is serving other countries, there are many domestic dividends, including enhanced postservice employment opportunities. An exciting new feature is the Crisis Corps, introduced by Director Mark Gearan, composed of former Peace Corps volunteers "reenlisting" for short periods during a crisis…

To help reluctant high school readers, a ninth-grade teacher modified a pedagogy called the Socratic Seminar (the Paedeia Approach) based on the work of Mortimer Adler and Dennis Gray. A Socratic Seminar is a focused discussion on a short piece of writing. The process is explained. (MLH)

Presents tables showing that the variability among states for results of the 1992 International Assessment of Educational Progress and National Assessment of Educational Progress is as great as that among countries. Also, Asian-American students score higher than any other students in the world. First- and second-ranked states are listed for math…

In June 1998, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of an amended school-choice program allowing disadvantaged students to attend parochial schools using publicly funded vouchers. The case turned on the inclusion of parochial schools as an addition to a program with numerous preexisting choices. "Choice" (not "parochiaid") is…

Alfie Kohn's attack on affluent, educationally focused parents (in the April 1998 "Kappan") sidesteps citizens' dismay at reformers' failure to make schools work for disadvantaged, average, or gifted students. What are the systemic implications? Elite colleges must champion reforms, schools must communicate curriculum essentials effectively, and…

Two national reform movements--one focused on creating small, autonomous schools, the other fixated on a standardization agenda--are basically in conflict. The standards movement is touting the traditional, top-down, centralized, bureaucratic system modeled after Frederick Taylor and his efficiency experts. Progressive, decentralized initiatives…