Search

This article aims to analyze first drafts of a coaching service to schools (SATE, for its acronym in Spanish) in the context of current educational reform in Mexico. To this end all legal documents and various program documents that have been released throughout 2013 and 2014 relating to basic education were analyzed. The paper is organized in three sections. The history of this type of service in Mexico is presented first; the second section includes information on the SATE as included in the legal documents of the current educational policy. In a third section some comments on what have to be taken into account for the proper implementation of a service of this nature are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the importance of word frequency lists in regulating the language used in school textbooks, as well as the frequency of their use in various fields of knowledge. Basing each word on the classical definition found in the Royal Spanish Academy Dictionary, our aim is to present the 5,000 most frequently used words in the official textbooks for elementary and middle school education in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with four of the Mexican government' educational policies derived from the National Accord to Modernize Basic and Normal Education (Acuerdo National para la Modernización de la Educación Básica y Normal-ANMEB-) signed in may, 1992. These are: the decentralization of basic education; curricular renovation and the production of textbooks and educational material; reforms to teachers' working conditions; and society's participation in education. The study was done by means of documentary research and interviews with the Department of Education's head officials. Among the main findings are: the continuity of consensus between the federal and the states governments; the promotion of the states' initiatives in substantive subjects by the Department of Education and the acknowledgement of limitations encountered in basic education caused by the predominance of the central federal power; the qualitative innovations in textbooks and educational material; the postponement of pre-school and secondary education reforms; the great unbalance of teachers' initial education; the high degree of endogamy and political fiefs within the teachers' community; the wide variety of projects at different levels and institutions to promote parents' participation in schools and to make principals and teachers sensitive to such participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]