The 18 junior high school teachers at the Ironwood School in Phoenix (Arizona) meet once a week as a team to engage in mutual planning, problem solving, and decision making. The team concept's success is owed to the active support of the school's administration. (PGD)

Describes the origins and continuing successes of the New Adventure in Learning (NAIL) program in the Leon County (Florida) school district. NAIL's effectiveness in tackling reading problems through a combination of group instruction using basals and newer, diagnostic/prescriptive, individualized techniques has led to the program's national…

An end to the controversy over tax exemption for private schools is not likely soon. (Author)

Briefly describes the educational systems of Western Europe as essentially similar despite a few variations. Comments on the economic support provided for education, the structures and clienteles of the various systems from elementary school through higher education, and the range and content of the curricula offered. (PGD)

Offers reasons why public schools should cooperate with local families educating their children at home: opposing home schooling is rarely fruitful; supporting home schoolers can improve public relations; home schooling offers otherwise unobtainable insights into child learning; and home-schooled students participating in district programs may…

Considers the range of reasons for the growth of the home schooling movement, providing several examples. Describes the practical difficulties facing home schoolers, and discusses the variety of legal reactions to home schooling, both supportive and suppressive, at state and local levels across the nation. (PGD)

Describes the individualized instructional approach of the Imperial Tutoring and Educational Services school in Chicago (Illinois), which offers tutoring by certified personnel for remedial and enrichment purposes. The program recently became the first tutorial school fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. (PGD)

Reviews the history of reform movements in secondary education in the context of the overall development of secondary education since the 19th century. Suggests treating reports advocating reform as position papers helping make broad social changes intelligible by revealing the shifting relationships between changing concepts of education and…

Cites the failings of the National Institute of Education (NIE) and the reasons behind them, discusses the proper federal role in supporting educational research, and suggests developing alternative methods for providing leadership and funding so that the NIE can be abandoned. (PGD)

Demands for immediate answers to education's problems affect federal support for needed long-term educational research programs. The National Institute of Education has made significant progress toward establishing valid research methods and a solid foundation for future research efforts, though restricted in its activities and denied due credit.…

Cites the benefits and dismisses several criticisms of school reform litigation, noting that recourse to the courts can be necessary but urging the development of alternative methods for encouraging action on needed reforms. (PGD)

Argues that only when educators understand the mutual interaction of the educational system and the economy, join local and state coalitions to address the underlying issues producing the current fiscal crisis, and work for local control can economic conditions affecting the schools change and allow educational quality to improve. (Author/PGD)

Describes a study of the awareness of 299 elementary and secondary teachers and administrators from the Chicago (Illinois) area concerning U.S. Supreme Court decisions affecting the civil liberties and rights of students and teachers. The findings indicated that mechanisms for communicating Court decisions to the schools were ineffective and…

Describes the variety of attitudes toward mainstreaming characterized by the 25 mainstreaming programs currently being studied in an ongoing research project. Suggests that the failure of mainstreaming efforts is traceable to organizational problems, internecine politics, and lack of skill and/or willingness on the part of school personnel. (PGD)

The elimination of traditional courses in favor of student-originated, self-graded projects in the Department of Geology and Geography at St. Lawrence University in Canton (New York) proved too radical for the entire faculty. The program eventually became two-tracked, offering students both traditional and student-generated learning situations.…