EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY HIGH SCHOOL REFORM: CURRENT AND HISTORIC PERSPECTIVES*

This paper commences with a brief history of reforms in secondary education and the studies of various groups that inspired them. Despite almost a century of criticism and reform proposals, the high school continued until this decade to be a highly regarded community institution. Reflecting the present loss of prestige suffered by high schools, current criticism of secondary education ranges far and wide. A few areas of current concern include the apparent decline in student achievement, the inadequacy and inappropriateness of curricula, and the isolation of the high school. This paper summarizes current trends in recommended educational reform and examines the future of secondary education. (Author/DS) Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished * * materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort * * to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal * * reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality * * of the microfighe and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available * * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not * responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions * * supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original. * U.S OEPARTMENT OF HEALTH