Most teachers in focus groups admitted promoting students who are not academically prepared for the next grade. One middle school teacher said he had promoted underprepared students because of their age. Teachers in focus groups said such a requirement might address issues raised by the business community regarding the preparedness of the work force. The idea of requiring students to wear uniforms to school has wide appeal. Yet there is scant evidence that uniforms have such effects.
Kids are creative, and the way they dress is one way they express themselves.
The nation's telephone and cable television companies have joined President Clinton's commitment to connect all schools to the Internet by the year 2000, promising to give most public schools free access. We're not ready for the Internet. Teachers in focus groups generally agreed that students would benefit. In the fall of 1995, the Seattle school board hired John Stanford, a retired major general with a master's degree in management, as its superintendent. Other urban districts are turning to people with backgrounds in public policy, finance, and other fields to take over management of the schools.