Reviews Canadian educational levels and teacher preparation. The professional level of teacher preparation programs in Alberta is probably the highest in North America. Education internships are part of teacher training and take place after the granting of a degree and temporary teaching certificate. (MD)

At the City University of New York (CUNY) the Faculty Development Program (FDP) helps develop faculty teaching skills by enrolling professors in courses they plan to teach. A writing instructor details his experiences while participating in English 0.4. (MD)

In reviewing a study of elementary urban school teachers, the author points out how the bureaucracy of education stifles teachers' ability to develop an internalized locus of control and leads to disenchantment and alienation. Giving teachers authority to act in their areas of expertise while decentralizing the educational power structure will…

Educational reformers always attack the teacher instead of the school administrators. The improvement of education does not lie in firing teachers but may lie in recertifying administrators and looking at the teachers of teachers. (MD)

Presents findings on public attitudes toward educational policies pursued by the Reagan Administration from the 1987 Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll. It is a 13-page report with statistical data and an explanation of how the research was conducted. (MD)

Reviews the types of teacher certification examinations and questions their validity and the procedures used for validating the tests. Includes references. (MD)

Outlines the research involved in the development of a new set of standards in teacher assessment by the Teacher Assessment Project at Stanford University (CA). The program is based on a conception of teaching as a unique activity that is more than the generic skills of pedagogy and that cannot be observed in any single setting. (MD)

Promotes the use of basic skills testing in the certification of new teachers and the recertification of veteran teachers. Presents the belief that better teaching will result from mandated teacher testing. (MD)

Schools need more incentives to begin to produce more "thoughtfulness." As it is now they respond by "getting by" because they are only held accountable for minimal levels of achievement. Policymakers need to develop a different system of acccountability. (MD)

Discusses the issues and challenges facing school boards in the current educational reform climate. Summarizes the findings and recommendations resulting from the Institute for Educational Leadership (Washington, DC) national study of local school boards. (MD)

State boards of education are changing as state policy agendas are dominated by concerns about quality of education. Presents overview of recent trends in state involvement during the period the federal role in education has been shrinking. The impetus for education reform in the 1980s has come largely from outside educational community, resulting…

Provides strategies for creating effective partnerships between state and local boards of education. (MD)

Presents a silly test of current and former TV shows. (MD)

Albert Blum discusses the need for "fallowships" for educators. These would allow educators to lie "fallow" for a year and not read, talk, or think about anything in their field. (MD)

Between 1980 and 1986 federal support for education fell by 11 percent and number of disadvantaged students grew to 20 percent. In 1986 federal support for children had fallen to its lowest level in 20 years. Evaluates congressional turnaround that began to increase federal support. U.S. business leaders expressed concern over U.S. educational…