Case study of a poor, rural Pennsylvania school district's experience with the Reading First initiative illustrates how the No Child Left Behind Act confines districts to a few federally prescribed, "scientifically proven" curricula that ignore local conditions. Sanctioned schools are negatively labeled but receive inadequate funding,…

Asserts that visual arts education contributes to a more profound understanding and appreciation of civilization. Maintains that art criticism offers teachers an opportunity to interact with students about their personal reactions to art and to involve them in critical thinking. (CFR)

Suggests that the rural development policy for Australia proposed by Jonathan and Katrina Sher in a previous issue of this journal fails to differentiate between "rural" and "regional," resulting in policies aimed at regional areas and the marginalization of rural communities. Offers a distinction between rural, urban, and…

Asserts that art history and art criticism have not met the needs and aspirations of female students. Maintains that teaching embroidery can help teach about a history of female oppression. Describes how this approach is used in the classroom. (CFR)

This critique of "Writing to Read," a computer-based reading and writing program, uses aesthetic criteria and artistic criticism. Observations of kindergarten and first grade classes are described; education as art is considered; the issues of time and control are examined; and the aesthetic criteria of balance and coherence are…

Argues that a major factor for student dropouts is lack of self-esteem, and shows the therapeutic value of art activities. Describes a self-portrait lesson with 15- and 16-year-old juveniles in a detention center. Decries the lack of attention to art in the schools. Suggests allowing students to practice right-brain drawing can improve…

Presents three works of art that examine issues of exhibition, display, culture, and access in contemporary museum practices. The works include four black mannequins dressed as security guards, a room-size installation consisting solely of objects related to the artist, and a poster highlighting the general exclusion of women artists. (MJP)

Commentaries from 10 researchers concerning "Alcohol Abuse in Urban Indian Adolescents and Women: A Longitudinal Study for Assessment and Risk Evaluation" (R. Dale Walker and others). Reviewers commend the project for adding to the sparse longitudinal research on Indian peoples, while also pointing out problems and issues specific to…

This year's Schoolhouse Commercialism Trends report finds that schools continue to be a prime target of a wide variety of corporate advertising efforts and criticism of marketing to children in schools is mounting. Most of this criticism is directed at marketing activities that are thought to have a negative impact on children's health. Public…

Drawing on published feminist literature, this essay deconstructs developmentalism as a metanarrative that contributes to the oppression and exploitation of women and underpins educational practice. First, I examine feminist critiques of developmentalism, distinguishing between "insider critiques" formulated by feminist psychologists evaluating…

This language arts unit of study for high ability learners in grades 5-6 highlights persuasion in oral and written form, focusing especially on oral communication. Emphasis is placed on providing evidence for opinions. Students must cite passages from literature to defend their points of view in discussion as well as in written arguments.…

In November 1992, the Ford Foundation published a study entitled "State Higher Education Systems and College Completion," which argued that states that relied heavily on community colleges in their postsecondary educational system, such as California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, were not efficient in producing bachelor degree (BA)…

An interesting approach to the topic of women and literature is to see if the real working roles of women have been reflected in fiction. As delineated in novels, women are seen engaged in: (l) farm labor; (2) jobs that are extensions of their nurturing roles; (3) factory work--especially in the early textile and clothing mills; and (4) housework…

Modern black poetry has emerged as an art form whose viewpoint (theme), style (structure), and language (diction and usage) focus on a particular kind of sensibility and consciousness in conflict with the world in which the poetry moves. The black aesthetic addresses the consciousness of blackness and deplores traditional poetic niceties in favor…

This collection of abstracts is part of a series providing continuing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 23 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the rhetoric of scientific controversy; (2) Erving Goffman's interactional theory of communication conduct; (3) a phenomenology of feminism; (4) a…