As social promotion gives way to grade promotion based on mastery and as the education reform movement brings new, higher standards, vast numbers of students unable to meet the new standards are needing remedial instruction. This is proving to be a difficult and costly challenge. (DCS)

In response to the educational reform reports, Glendale Elementary School District (Arizona) administrators decided to reexamine existing programs and begin long-range planning. They submitted a list of recommendations (selected from reports) to a community/district staff and task force to prioritize, then assigned specific responsibilities to…

A three-hour block of uninterrupted time each morning for the teaching of core subjects has allowed this elementary school to reduce class size, increase the time teachers spend with individual students, increase time on task, increase parent and teacher expectations of students, and improve student/teacher relationships. (DCS)

By focusing school schedules on teacher-directed instruction in reading and mathematics and developing a parallel-block master schedule, more efficient use can be made of classroom time without large expenditures of money or time for staff development. (DCS)

If schools of education diversify and emphasize the value of their programs for those who wish to teach in business and industry, they can reduce their dependency on the job market for public school teachers and solve the problem of teacher quality. (DCS)

A restructuring of federal, state, and local relations is ceding considerably more control of education to the states. State mandates are now far more common than technical assistance and focus increasingly on the core of instructional policy, leading to a standardizing effect as local discretion declines. (DCS)

Texas education's tradition of local school board autonomy is rapidly vanishing as the state takes tight control of public education, with reforms in the areas of curriculum, school management, teachers, school finance, and administration. The implementation of state mandates will now be the primary function of school boards. (DCS)

As states modify their school finance systems in pursuit of equity, play a larger role in setting the level of teacher salaries, and link school finance and improvement, state control of schools is growing. However, state support of schools will decrease as property taxes increase. (DCS)

New York's Action Plan, a comprehensive program outlining school reforms to be phased in over the next decade, stresses the partnership of local and state governments. It sets expectations for student performance, increases accountability, addresses quality of instruction, provides extra help where needed, and allows local flexibility. (DCS)

Policies now being enacted by many states to reform teacher education include testing, alternate routes to certification, scholarships and loan forgiveness, incentives, and overhauling certification packages and institutional standards. However, these policy initiatives are not likely to provide many lasting benefits, based on performance to date.…

An outcome of the excellence movement has been an increase in state control of education, especially through state-mandated testing, as testing has become the preferred means of trying to effect change in education following the popularity of accountability and minimum competency testing. Suggestions for using tests prudently are listed. (DCS)

Senate Bill 813, the broadest and most expensive school reform bill in California's history, is anchored in a set of seriously flawed assumptions about teaching, schooling, and the role of the state in generating change. (Author/DCS)

The United States Supreme Court requires school districts to provide catheterization services for handicapped students, in accordance with Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. (DCS)

Teachers deserve to have appropriate training before they are held accountable for teaching about computer hardware and software, and the responsibility for this training falls to the teacher training institutions. Such a computer literacy program has been instituted at Abilene Christian University (Texas). (DCS)

Rather than showing the growing inadequacy of schools, about half of the Scholastic Aptitude Test score decline is attributed to significant changes in the composition of the test-taking group; about one-fourth of the decline to school-related factors; and one-fourth to broader social factors. (MLF)