Accountability,school reform,and equity: The troubling case of Sylvan school district

Most educational accountability systems draw upon relatively simplified indicators of student learning. Despite sufficient criticism and evidence of their misuse, test scores continue to be emphasized—even though they have a deadening effect on the very school district these accountability systems intend to primarily influence. This paper focuses on one of these low-performing school districts. The case study of Sylvan One reveals that the influence of state policy is especially circumscribed in a district like Sylvan's that is beset by such prevailing conditions as the politics of race, the culture of poverty, vacuums in communication and leadership, and the uncritical mass of human resources. Each of these conditions limits change and reform dramatically. Account-ability and reform must focus on a rigorous curriculum and well-understood standards—but only in the context of this community, replete with its problems ofrelationships, resources, andracism. These are the “three Rs” that are tantamount to creating and sustaining reform. And this approach is more about political development than anything else. Recommendations for moving beyond the traditional policymaking tools of mandates and inducements are suggested, recognizing that policy may at best promote equality, but not necessarily excellence and equity.     

Computers and school reform

Part of the vision of school reform is to reconstruct schools as learning communities in which students and teachers pursue topics of interest. Computers can provide powerful tools for students in learning communities where inquiry, data gathering, interpretation, thinking, and judgment take place. Changing beliefs in educational goals and great support for teachers will be necessary if we are to realize the potential of computers in restructured classrooms. The greatest possibilities exist in new Professional Development Schools, where university faculty join school teachers in joint efforts to restructure learning environments. New evaluation procedures are also needed if competencies associated with information retrieval and use are to be assessed.     

The politics of rural school reform: Escuela Nueva in Colombia

This article explores the history and politics of rural school reform in Colombia, focusing on the Escuela Nueva programme. In particular, it assesses the motivations of the Colombian State in promoting a comprehensive reform of its rural schools. We argue that Colombia's unique political context was, in large part, responsible for its novel approach to school reform. As the political context shifted, however, so to did the State's posture to rural schooling. We track the Escuela Nueva programme through three phases (grassroots, formalized and decoupled) to demonstrate how social actors, their interests at a specific point in time, and the distribution of power among them, are crucial elements for understanding the motivation and outcomes of social policy making. In other words, this research portrays education reform as a dynamic process that is continuously shaped and reshaped as political actors and institutions compete for influence and scarce resources in a variable social arena.     

Technology,teachers, and the search for school reform

Educational technologists have increasingly moved away from direct involvement in the world of the classroom teacher in recent years. The assumptions that technologists and teachers make about educational technology and about teaching now diverge markedly. At the same time, new reform proposals have suggested ways to restructure schools that would enhance the role of teachers as instructional decision-makers and offer them more control over their professional work life. Elements of the reform agenda are characterized, and ways are described in which educational technologists might work together with teachers in pursuit of reform goals. These include: (1) preparation of models for teaching-with-technology; (2) design of intelligent software; (3) creation of technologically based tools to support teachers' professional work and development; and (4) improvement of research about technology in education. Note:An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Conference of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, Dallas, Texas, February 4, 1989.     

Decentralization and recentralization reform in Mongolia: tracing the swing of the pendulum

For the past 10 years the Ministry of Education of Mongolia has periodically oscillated between decentralization and recentralization policies. On paper, it has consistently and enthusiastically subscribed to decentralization, but in practice has given these policies low priority. This study attempts to explain the discrepancies between policy talk and actual implementation. Methodologically, the authors investigate local policy contexts and examine how international interventions such as decentralization policies are locally reinterpreted or ‘Mongolized’. The study examines several areas where cultural legacies from the socialist past have clashed with the expectations of international donors. Theoretically, the Mongolian fiasco of decentralization reform lends itself as a case to address issues that have been raised both in comparative research on ‘transitology’ and on cross‐national policy borrowing.     

中等职业学校教学改革方略

中等职业学校要培养造应型、实用型、复合型人才,以适应21世纪社会发展对人才的需求及应对入世后的挑战,就必须在教学过程中紧紧围绕培养目标,在实践中探求带有指导性、规律性的改革模式,进行更自觉、更理智、更有效的教学改革。     

论工读学校德育基本模式

本文从工读教育的实践出发,针对复杂的工读学生群体,探索出以控制、矫治、转化、培养为内容的工读学校德育基本模式即一个主导因素、三个教育原则、三种教育方式、四个方面教育内容、八条教育措施。     

Facilitating change at the school level: A missing factor in school reform

This paper argues that how a school improvement reform is implemented at the school level is a critical factor affecting the impact of that reform. In developing this position, the paper does four things. First, it notes the omission of a discussion about program implementation in the many recent national reports and studies of schooling. Second, it discusses the key components of program implementation ignored by the reports and studies. Third, it details three case studies of schcol improvement programs that are seriously compromised because of inadequate attention to implementation. Fourth and, finally, the paper outlines six reforms which would facilitate the implementation of school improvement programs.     

本科层次酒店礼仪课程的教学改革研究

本科层次的酒店管理专业有很强的实践性,其人才培养应倾向于服务应用型,偏重理论教育的酒店礼仪课程急需改革。该课程的教学应基于对接行业和专业启蒙的课程定位;明确能力为主的教学目标;设计突出应用的教学内容;创新学生为主的教学方法;建立强化实践的考核体系。