The budget crises will have far reaching impacts on education in California. This CenterView focuses on the critical issues of equity and teaching quality now beginning to emerge for Californians as they struggle to offer students instruction necessary to meet the state's rigorous academic standards. It is absolutely essential for educators and…

Back in 1982, as New Jersey's commissioner of education, the author of this paper made several recommendations to then-Governor Thomas H. Kean concerning teachers. These ideas, all of which the governor embraced, stirred controversy but also put the state on cutting edge of school reform. The ideas were important because they recognized, in a…

While Michigan students learn a variety of skills in their time at school, perhaps the most important charge of public schools, beyond providing a safe and healthy environment, is to ensure that students are learning their three fundamental skills: reading, writing and arithmetic. Unfortunately, the achievement levels of Michigan public school…

A school board member, pursuing literature findings on the relationship between classroom size and student achievement/quality instruction, discovers that data support "any hypotheses." The investigator concluded that educational research does not reflect actual student-teacher classroom interactions. (CJH)

The author examines four categories of context variables (teacher characteristics, school policy and organization, instructional setting, and student characteristics) relating to teaching and learning in studies of teacher effectiveness, and argues that, by identifying contextual constraints within which teachers make decisions, teachers will be…

The real basics are not the three Rs, rock-hard discipline, or spoon-fed values. Instead, they are strong, capable, well-trained teachers who can work in an enlightened and supportive environment, encouraged by a caring public. (Author)

Asserts that California's 1999 Public Schools Accountability Act does not do enough to address the underachievement of students in high-poverty schools. Recommends four initiatives to improve the academic performance of students in these schools: provide better teachers, boost instructional time, increase teacher professional development time, and…

Research on the relationship of class size to academic achievement is being used by administrators, parents, teachers, and politicians. Unfortunately, many questions are being raised on the methodology, results, and conclusions of the research studies. (FG)

Discusses six suggestions to support teachers and administrators who experiment with different ways of meeting a diversity of learning needs: curricular congruence, special education teacher as team teacher, volunteers and paraprofessionals, instructional resources, class size, and staff development. Discusses why such support is vital. (SR)

The relationship between class size and scholastic outcomes is addressed in this paper. A literature review focuses on the research of Glass and Smith (1978) and Larkin and Keeves (1984). Contradictory and inconclusive research findings about teacher effectiveness in relation to class size indicate that emphasis should be placed on training…

Address to a convention of secondary school principals analyzes the effect of successful communication between principals and faculty, stresses the need to make English teaching relevant to the community, especially by teaching moral values, and calls for a reduction of class size for English teachers. (JG)

Accountability based on reading scores will only demoralize teachers who are trying hard in disadvantaged schools. A better response to reading failure would include improved teacher training and placement, ability grouping, reduced class size, adequate specialist support, and kindergarten reading. PS 209 in Queens utilizes several of these…

Discusses the relevance to class size policy of research studies on effective schools, mastery learning, organizational theory, and effective teaching. Class size should be matched to student needs. (BJV)

One of the great school funding myths of our time is the notion that money spent on improving public schools for poor and minority students is akin to throwing money into a bottomless pit. According to the politicians and policymakers who have pushed this view into the public debate on education reform, our schools have ample resources, and…

This paper discusses the importance of expansion of the quantity of schooling and enhancement of the quality of schooling, both of which can be seen as directed towards the same goal, the improvement of educational outcomes for the population. Because both quantitative and qualitative investment projects in the education sector compete for the…