Instead of relying on largely unsuccessful partnerships between business and education, business needs to force its own agenda to help the U.S. regain competitive advantage in world economy. This article advocates free market choice; restructuring schools; professionalized, accountable teacher corps; higher academic standards; traditional values;…

Praises David Kearns' education recovery plan for acknowledging the plight of ill-served low income children, assigning an appropriate federal role, and attempting to spark debate among presidential candidates. Anticipates criticisms (blaming schools for putting the nation at economic risk, puzzling contradictions concerning school choice and…

Praises David Kearns' article in the same "Kappan" issue for characterizing schooling as a failed monopoly and supporting development of educational research capacity and tax support. Adequate funding is the key; whereas the private sector will spend over $6,060 yearly to train one employee, public schools spend only about $3,500 yearly per…

Compares David Kearns' resentment of school performance (in the same "Kappan" issue) to the author's own frustration with Xerox photocopiers. To achieve the restructuring and choice central to Kearns' educational recovery plan, the schools will need to depend increasingly on technology (computer simulations, interactive video, and artificial…

Reviews the 25-year record of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), highlighting criticisms of test design and validity, sampling techniques, standards, and usefulness of results. Provides the newly organized NAEP with guidelines for selecting input variables and specifies nine variables to be studied. A sidebar describes NAEP's…

Two assessment agencies, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in the U.S. and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), provide the most promising framework for comparing U.S. education with education in other nations. These agencies can cooperate to resolve technical issues and make data…

Increased policymaking activity at the state level will increase the states' demands for relevant data to guide educational reform. This article presents a state assessment model serving three major purposes: (1) facilitating policy development; (2) mobilizing and sustaining political support for schools; and (3) improved educational quality.…

The U.S. Supreme Court is applying a new legal standard in court actions involving students' constitutional rights. Instead of basing decisions on the "substantial interference" argument, the Court is giving school officials broad latitude to structure an environment in which students can both learn and develop "socially appropriate behavior."…

Outlines California's major educational reform legislation during 1980's and describes a Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) study of policy implementations. Results show that nearly all schools correctly implemented key provisions of S.B. 813, that state level reform can be effective when accompanied by cohesive local strategizing,…

School-to-school partnerships can be enormously rewarding for staff and students in U.S. districts and in American schools overseas. Cooperative projects bring cultures closer together and narrow the gap between U.S. society and the lives of people in foreign countries. (MLH)

Criticizes the 1987 National Endowment for the Humanities report for blaming "vocationalism" for declining humanities enrollments in colleges. Unlike other disciplines, humanities leaders seem unwilling to seek clients or to engage in self-examination. What's needed is a renaissance of educational populism, or a repackaging of the humanities that…

The educational reform movement has proven largely irrelevant to urban minority students' needs. Dropout prevention programs have bestowed meaningless diplomas, while side-stepping the root causes of failure and underachievement. Urban high schools are large and impersonal and have a sour, dispirited atmosphere that discourages learning. Clearly,…

Teachers harbor extraordinary leadership capabilities--a major untapped rsource for improving U.S. schools. This article explains how principals can share leadership by articulating goals, entrusting and relinquishing authority, involving teachers in decision-making, assigning responsibilities wisely, sharing responsibility for both success and…

Effective schools require strong leaders, but any school has a variety of leadership needs. Teachers are ideal instructional leaders, especially when encouraged to undertake such leadership and when willing to become responsible, accountable professionals. A classroom-alternative support team needs both the principal's managerial leadership and…

For a school to have a community of leaders, teachers must have opportunities to assume more responsibility, more decision-making power, and more accountability for the results. Teacher leadership can help build collegiality and break down communication barriers. Shared leadership models will persevere only if they are used to reorganize the work…