The Evolution of the New American Schools

The Evolution of the New American Schools: From Revolution to Mainstream (click here for full article) (Click here to download the PDF of this article) By Jeffery Mirel, Ph.D. School of Education University of Michigan   Briefing What are the “New American Schools?” Unfortunately they are the latest educational reform to be identified as a failure. A variety of factors played a role in their demise, but the most obvious problem was their reliance on the “progressive” vision … Read More

Teacher Reform Gone Astray

(click here for full article) (click here to download a PDF of this article) By Chester E. Finn, Jr. In Our Schools and Our Future . . . Are We Still at Risk?, Paul E. Peterson, ed., Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution, 2003.    Briefing In Teacher Reform Gone Astray, Chester E. Finn, Jr. reviews efforts that have been made on improving teacher quality since A Nation at Risk was published in 1983. Finn argues that the teacher education … Read More

Reflections on Class Size and Teacher Quality

(click here for full article) (click here to download a PDF of this article) By Jennifer Buckingham Issue Analysis (No. 29a), St Leonards, NSW, Australia: Centre for Independent Studies, March 21, 2003.   Briefing Reducing class size is one of the most widely known and intuitively appealing school reforms. It is also one of the most hotly debated. Jennifer Buckingham of the Australia/New Zealand-based Centre for Independent Studies reviewed the research on class size and student achievement, summarizing … Read More

Preparing Teachers

Preparing Teachers: Are American Schools of Education Up to the Task? (click here for information on event at which paper was presented) (Click here to download the PDF of this article) By David Steiner Boston University School of Education American Enterprise Institute   Briefing E. D. Hirsch, Chester Finn, the late Al Shanker and other critics have argued that faulty teacher training is a key contributor to school ineffectiveness. They say that the schools of education embrace “constructivism”—an … Read More

Reform of and by the System

Reform of and by the System: A Case Study of a State’s Effort at Curricular and Systemic Reform (click here for full article) (click here to download a PDF of this article) by Phillip A. Cusick, Michigan State University and Jennifer Borman, Brown University   Briefing It has oft been said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and such is surely the case with much education reform legislation. Dissatisfied with the quality of student … Read More

Parent Politics in Head Start

Empowerment and Education: Civil Rights, Expert-Advocates, and Parent Politics in Head Start, 1964-1980 (click here for full article) (click here to download a PDF of this article) By Josh Kagan, New York University School of Law Teachers College Record, 104(3), 2002, p. 516-562   Briefing The Johnson Administration was on the right track in 1964 when as part of its War on Poverty it designed a program that targeted low-income, disadvantaged three-to-five-year-old children. Head Start was conceived to … Read More

How to Build a Better Teacher

To Build a Better Teacher: The Emergence of a Competitive Education Industry (click here for full article) (click here to download a PDF of this article) By Robert Gray Holland Senior Fellow, Lexington Institute Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2003   Briefing Most education professors have a vision of education that differs radically from that of the primary consumers of public education. While clear majorities of parents, teachers, and civic leaders want K-12 schools to ensure basic skills — … Read More

The Free and Happy Student

(click here for full article) (Click here to download the PDF of this article) By B. F. Skinner Phi Delta Kappan, 1973 55(1), pp 13-16, 488     Briefing In a widely read article written more than 30 years ago, the famous behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner predicted disastrous consequences if schools adopted teaching methods based on the child-centered educational philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. His critique was remarkably prescient. The theories that troubled Skinner have influenced a generation … Read More

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