The organizational context of charter schools may facilitate the formation of a strong teacher community. In particular, a focused school mission and increased control over teacher hiring may lead to stronger teacher professional communities. This paper uses the 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey to compare the level of teacher community in…

This study compares achievement levels for high ability students attending charter schools and students in traditional public schools in Georgia. Researchers examined student achievement (as assessed by the state's Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests) using three comparison groups: students in the closest traditional schools with similar grade…

This article deals with German academic emigres who fled Hitler after 1933 and established their refuge at the American-based Black Mountain College in North Carolina, founded as an alternative to traditional institutions of higher education in that very year. Of particular consideration are the contributions of noted Bauhaus master Josef Albers…

The author reflects on the "back to basics" movement using examples of what schools were really like in the "good old days" of the 1930s. (Editor/SJL)

This article addresses three questions. First, what is the deep pleasure that humans take from video games? Second, what is the relationship between video games and real life? Third, what do the answers to these questions have to do with learning? Good commercial video games are deep technologies for recruiting learning as a form of profound…

Since the passage of the first Charter School Law in Minnesota in 2001, there have been many studies that have examined the effect of Charter schools on student achievement with very mixed results. The Missouri legislature passed legislation in 1998 permitting the establishment of charter schools in a metropolitan school district or in an urban…

This article discusses "Universities of the Third Age", whose function is quite distinct from established universities' traditional role in teaching, research, and community services. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop a model of partnership between traditional universities and Universities of the Third Age, ensuring better…

One important aim of social science research is to provide unbiased information that can help guide public policies. However, social science is often construed as politics by other means. Nowhere is the polarized nature of social science research more visible than in the heated debate over charter schools. In "Spin Cycle", noted political…

Western intellectual heritage is characterized by a gradual but significant shift from a supernatural to a naturalistic worldview between 1880 and 1920. With the ascendancy of naturalistic worldview, various conflicting ideas emerge about the place and proper function of the family and the educational institutions. The social and legal…

In their respect for tradition, educatiors have failed to learn how to face crises realistically, to analyze them for deeper underlying factors which past generations have overlooked. This article deals with such overlooked learning factors. (Author)

Examines the effect of classroom structure and teaching style on the creative performance of first grade children. (BD)

Argues that if conformity is what culture demands, then schools that emphasize dull, fixed, ritualistic, and conformist behavior are functional. (Author)

A look at schooling in the United States, from the vantage point of Spain. (DS)

A brief comparison of open education and traditional education. (AK)