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The article discusses the means to promote innovation, options, and problem-solving in the U.S. public education under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. Topics mentioned include the need for states to have a strategy to improve shools with difficulty in meeting the diverse needs of students, a policy to free schools to innovate, and encourage school districts to improve their leadership preparation programs.

Offers a look at the problems faced by cities in the United States in relation with their education system. Efforts of mayors and state governments in response to the problems; Educational reforms needed in the cities; Limitations of the strategies for educational reform; Options to increase school quality; Issues of local control associated with the efforts for education system reform.

Looks at a study of immigrant education which collected interview and statistical data from 57 schools in districts in several major cities. Article condensed from `Newcomers in American Schools: Meeting the Educational Needs of Immigrant Youth'; National education goals; Funding issues; More.

Advances the notion that universal public school choice would strongly benefit all children, including the disadvantaged. Evidence that choice promotes the candid and demanding relationships among teachers, parents and students that are essential to effective schooling; How choice affects schools, parents and students; How the educational environments in schools of choice and compulsory attendance schools differ.

Describes contracting, an alternative form of governance for urban public education. Contractors; Funding; Curriculum and methods of teaching; Teachers; Student assignment; Maintaining quality; Protecting students against school failure; Advantages of contracting; Transition to contracting.

Focuses on U.S. federal education programs in the U.S. as of 1990. Categorical problems affecting federal role in elementary and secondary education; Changes in the structure of education implemented in 1981; Educational laws implemented to introduce reforms; Policies to protect the interests of minority students.

The authors comment on educational change in the U.S., particularly the issue of school choice. The opinion that there are many stereotypes about education reform is shared as is the view that school choice would privatize education. The development of a public education system in the early 20th century is described. The author also considers the implications of an education system that is not based on choice but that is completely controlled by the government.

Comments on the purpose of site-based management and presents a condensed version of `Decentralization and Accountability in Public Education,' which was published by the RAND Corporation (June 1991). Small number of school systems which have adopted site-based management; Distillation of the experience of school systems who have experimented with the system; RAND's study of five major urban and suburban school systems that had adopted site-based management.

Discusses the use of high-technological advances aimed at enhancing efficiency of corrections agencies in the United States. Advantages of technological advances; Agencies that have taken advantage of improved technologies.

An opinion piece is presented in which the authors discuss charter schools in the U.S. and argue for the benefits of a more limited role for local school boards in public education. The authors argue that school boards should be limited in order to allow schools freedom to adapt and focus on performance rather than compliance, and they outline a system based on checks and balances and limited government power.

The article presents the author's opinions regarding the funding policies and structures of the U.S. educational system as of 2011. Introductory remarks are given asserting that the existing financial paradigm is a failure. Suggestions are then given proposing an alternative method which focuses on the funding of individual students in a flexible manner rather than fixed institutions.

The article presents the authors' views about the school finance in the U.S. The authors say that teachers, administrators, and principals can no longer be oblivious about the uses of school funds. They need to know what other uses could be made of the same funds, and to feel a clear obligation to pursue the best uses possible. They also say that decisions about funding, spending, and educational programs all need to be made together, and all based on evidence about results.

This article discusses the differences in strategy for application of funds from the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation used for health and education. The health funds focus on delivering established remedies to those having difficulty getting them. Medicines are provided to the poor who can't ordinarily afford them. The Foundation uses the same philosophy in education by providing education opportunities for the poor and disadvantaged. The difference is that in education the funds will be used in the United States with all of its political machinations making it difficult to use the funds.

If public education is given a trivial definition, equating it with existing arrangements, including school boards elected in particular ways, large central-office bureaucracies, and teacher hiring and placement set through union agreements, proposals like charters and regulated vouchers surely threaten it. But if public education is defined in a serious way, as a community's effort to make sure its children are all educated for good jobs and constructive citizenship, then choice might advance it. Any form of school choice, whether new options offered by school districts or new independent schools funded by vouchers, can support public education or can harm it.

Opinion. Makes observations concerning the educational structure in the United States. Efforts to improve public schools incrementally; Evolution of public education into a government- and profession-run bureaucracy; Proposal for contract schools to restore balance between private and public interests.

Focuses on local schools in the United States. What poll routinely shows; Improvement in education; Cruel paradox.

The author argues that rural schools should be the focus of improving public education in the U.S., looking at the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation, the Rural Opportunities Consortium of Idaho (ROCI), and the Bellweather Education Partners nonprofit organization.

Reports on the average pay of British male academics compared to their American counterpart. Pay incentive for academics to migrate from Great Britain to the U.S.; Earning gap of female academics during their career; Difficulty of higher learning institutions to attract qualified staff.

Profiles U.S. professor and former education adviser Robert Reich. Background information on his introduction to a career in higher education and public service; Credit for introducing workers' family and medical leave rights and funding for pension schemes; Views on British higher education.

Opinion. Discusses the evolution of the charter school movement into an engine of broader reform for public education in the United States. Signs of maturity for the movement; Possibilities opened for public schools; Arguments raised by supporters of reform-oriented charter school laws; Status of charter applications in the country.