Volume 13, No.4

Summer 1999

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  • Confronting Racism, Promoting Respect

    A union program tackles a difficult topic

    By Tom McKenna

    A program developed by a Canadian teachers union takes on racism, giving students new ways to confront their beliefs and the racial discord in their communities.

  • Bilingual Education: New Visions for a New Era

    By Barbara Miner

    Two California schools with large Latino populations take very different tacks to preserve bilingual literacy in the wake of Proposition 227’s “English-only” provisions.”

  • To Improve Bilingual Ed…

    Rethinking Schools asked a number of people involved in bilingual education about the challenges facing bilingual programs. Following are excerpts from their answers.

    Bilingual educators describe the challenges faced today by their programs.

  • Coming Soon: The Son of Unz

    By Barbara Miner

    The father of California’s Prop 227 is coming to Arizona, and perhaps to a state near you.

  • The Columbine Tragedy

    Editorial Violence in our schools springs from violence in our culture. Stopping violence means stopping the intolerance and bullying that permeate highs schools today. It means treating kids like people instead of test scores. And it means fighting to end the policies that unleash missiles on our enemies while we urge our children to settle their problems peacefully.

  • Milwaukee: Who Won and Why

    The school board elections garnered national attention as a vote on vouchers. But in the end, the results had more to do with issues of race and power, and poor campaign decisions.

    By Bob Peterson

    The city’s school board election was portrayed nationally as a vote on vouchers. But the race was really about race and power, and how bad decisions can doom a campaign.

  • High-Voltage Protest

    Across the nation, parent and student protests are growing against the use of "high-stakes" tests. In a number of cases, the protests have arisen spontaneously after students and parents learned of not only the tests' content, but also of the use of a single standardized score to decide promotion or graduation. Some protests involve a handful of parents or students and others are organized districtwide or statewide.

    By Linda McCants Pendleton

    Students and parents are taking action against over-testing. Some student have even launched boycotts and deliberately failed tests to protest how standardized tests distort learning.

  • Badger-State Parent Power

    Wisconsin parents are organizing against the state's 'no social promotions' tests. Politicians are taking notice.

    By Linds McCants Pendleton

    Wisconsin parents organize against “no social promotion” tests. Politicians are taking notice.”

  • One Size Fits Few

    Do the people developing state standards have any clue about kids - and why should we force Moby Dick down the throats of 15-year-olds?

    By Susan Ohanian

    Do the people developing standards have any clue about kids, and why we shouldn’t force “Moby Dick” on them?

  • Standards and Multiculturalism 13.4

    Multiculturalism is a search, a conversation to discover silenced perspectives. Yet standardization emphasizes one “fixed” answer.

    By Bill Bigelow

    A Dialogue between Anita Bohn and Christine Sleeter Two noted educators discuss how the increasing reliance on textbooks and standardized tests undermines multicultural education.

  • Yours, Mine, or Ours?

    A high-school teacher struggles with issues of control and responsibility as he works with students on their literary magazine.

    By Sami Miranda

    A high school teacher struggles with issues of control and responsibility as he works with students on their literary magazine.

  • Students

    For public high school students involved in publishing newspapers or magazines at their schools, an understanding of court rulings on censorship is essential.

    Details on free speech laws and student publications, as defined by landmark court cases.

  • Lessons from the Reading Wars

    On both the academic and political fronts of the 'reading wars,' the real issues have been ignored or trivialized by the heated rhetoric of the movement

    By Jeff McQuillan

    Why the real issues that surround reading are ignored or trivialized in politics and academia.

  • Fiction Posing As Truth

    A Critical Review of Ann Rinaldi's My Heart Is on the Ground: The diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux Girl.

    By Cynthia Smith

    Nine reviewers express outrage at the popular author’s work for painting a rosy picture of the infamous government boarding schools for Native American children.

  • Eyewitness Accounts

    A much different view of government schools — from some of the Native Americans forced to attend them.

  • Why Assess Teachers?

    Throughout the United States, one hears the din of criticism of our educational system. A number of contradictory proposals to "fix" the schools are currently popular.

    By Michael Apple

    Those who assess teachers must look at issues of social justice, both inside and outside the classroom. But the current push for teacher assessment has little to do with such concerns.

  • ED WEB

    By Stan Karp

    Homeworkcentral.com is a kind of one-stop convenience store for students who have assignments due tomorrow.

  • Making Prejudice Visible

    No one ever wants to admit to being prejudiced. My students used surveys to help uncover discriminatory attitudes. The surveys hit close to home.

    By Ed Oravec

    How a teacher used surveys to help students uncover discriminatory attitudes.

  • Creating Student Surveys

    Some terms to know if you’re thinking about helping students create surveys.

  • Research Shows Benefits of Small Classes

    Two new studies show student gains in smaller classes.

  • Students Say ‘Enough!

    Chicago high schoolers say they will no longer feed the test-talking frenzy.

    Chicago high school students vow to stop feeding the testing frenzy.