Two types of personalized instruction, interaction and thoughtfulness, transcend the behavioral paradigm to include experiences building on individual student differences. Teachers can facilitate learners' progress from cognitive skill development to mastery and real-life problem solving by stressing experiential and inquiry learning, independent…

Summarizes background and aftermath of 1993 and 1997 New Hampshire Supreme Court unconstitutionality rulings against the state education finance system. Highlights "Claremont II," discussing initial responses, the Rubens constitutional amendment, the governor's ABC Plan, the bipartisan constitutional amendment, the 1998 governor race,…

Contends that the Bush Administration's "America 2000" plan is a political and ideological statement that substitutes the logic of the market for the principles of democracy and ignores the need for multiculturalism in the schools. Provides some general recommendations for educational reform. (30 endnotes) (MLF)

Attempts to characterize broadly the two conflicting visions that appear to dominate U.S. society today: the "Traditional America" vision that has evolved from the Judeo-Christian culture; and the "New America" vision shared by groups of people who believe themselves oppressed. Comments on the conflict of these visions on U.S.…

The Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA) totally rebuilt Kentucky's curriculum, governance, finance structures, and processes for elementary and secondary education. The Kentucky system developed 75 valued outcomes related to the 6 broad learning goals named in KERA. A valued outcome is the ability to demonstrate consistent quality…

Debunks eight misconceptions concerning U.S.'s alleged "lavish" spending on education in comparison to other countries. The share-of-national-income approach and measures of per pupil spending are frequently misinterpreted and often exclude education need and education resource cost. Nations with an expensive, highly productive labor…

Summarizes Kentucky's progress toward educational equity, concentrating on (1) the Kentucky Supreme Court's 1989 decision declaring the state's educational finance system unconstitutional and (2) a description and preliminary evaluation of the state's new four-part funding formula featuring pupil weighted averages for expenditure by wealth…

Despite efforts to produce comparable results for all groups of children over the years, inequality in educational outcomes persists. Equity audit explores school system operations and characteristics against five quality control standards: direction and planning, curriculum design and delivery, consistency and equity, assessment and evaluation,…

Examines three emerging models of schooling for at-risk students (School Development, Success for All, and Accelerated Schools) and compares them across five areas (key goal, guiding principles, concept of the student, organization and governance, and curriculum and instruction). Presents 10 policy recommendations drawn from the strengths of each…

The 1988 Chicago reforms require the school system to raise its student achievement levels to national norms in five years, reallocate resources away from the administration and toward schools, and establish local school councils as the basis for school-based management. So far, this reform implementation has not significantly affected student…

Summarizes a case involving a Denver high school teacher's naming, in a government class, of a student observed in a public sexual rendezvous. The teacher lost on all fronts, because his speech was considered school-sponsored and did not meet the school district's pedagogical interests, based on the 1988 "Hazelwood" decision limiting…

Traces the organizational history in Kentucky after the Department of Education was abolished by the Kentucky Educational Reform Act (KERA). Offers suggestions to other state legislators contemplating state department restructuring. Contends that "restructuring" turned out to be the same old process of bureaucratic adjustments practiced…

The legal audit of curriculum provides administrators with a procedure to systematically review local school policies and practices before they become involved in litigation by showing them the potential likelihood a suit would be successful against them. Over 160 court cases have been analyzed to develop the items in the legal curriculum audit.…

Dr. John Brock was elected in 1987 for a four-year term as State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Kentucky. His official duties were altered by the Kentucky Educational Reform Act (KERA). Dr. Brock answers questions that include his role as superintendent, the background of KERA, and his advice to legislators in other states. (MLF)

The University of New Orleans plan for cultural diversity received recognition for its "exemplary" accomplishments in "making diversity work on an urban campus" from the American Association of University Administrators. Offers five reasons for diversity programs, lists the conditions existing in 1989, and the actions that have…