Cover Art © 2002 by Susan Todd

DEPARTMENTS

486 THE EDITOR'S PAGE, Saying Doesn't Make It So
488 WASHINGTON COMMENTARY, School Reform and Professional Development, by Anne C. Lewis
490 STATELINE, Caring Trumps Compliance, by Kathy Christie
492 TECHNOLOGY, Disruptive Technology, by Royal Van Horn
495 IN CANADA, Getting Back to Essentials, by Heather-jane Robertson
497 RESEARCH, What Students Do in the Summer, by Gerald W. Bracey
561 COURTSIDE, Judgment Day, by Perry A. Zirkel
563 BACKTALK

MARCH 2002 * VOLUME 83 * NUMBER 7

ON THE COVER
A SPECIAL SECTION ON CHARTER SCHOOLS
There are lessons to be learned from experiments with charter schools across the U.S., as the authors in this special section point out.
506 Cultivating Innovation: How a Charter/District Network Is Turning Professional Development into Professional Practice, by Kevin Andrews and Michael Rothman
513 Charter Reform and the Education Bureaucracy: Lessons from New York State, by Carol Ascher and Arthur R. Greenberg
518 A Status Report on Charter Schools in New Mexico, by Jean Casey, Kathleen Andreson, Barbara Yelverton, and Linda Wedeen
525 Organizational Structures and Perceived Cultures of Community-Charter Schools in Ohio, by Jeannine L. Fox

FEATURES

HIGH-STAKES TESTING IN ALASKA
High-stakes testing in Alaska poses special problems for Alaska Natives and for students with disabilities -- the same kinds of problems that high-stakes testing poses for similar groups in other locales.
499 Equity for Alaska Natives: Can High-Stakes Testing Bridge the Chasm Between Ideals and Realities?, by Ken Jones and Paul Ongtooguk
504 High-Stakes Testing for Students with Special Needs, by Toni K. McDermott and Donald F. McDermott

TEACHER-CENTERED REFORM
Rosetta Cohen and Barry McGhan call on would-be school reformers to focus on the one indispensable element in all successful schools, the teachers.
532 Schools Our Teachers Deserve: A Proposal for Teacher-Centered Reform, by Rosetta Marantz Cohen
538 A Fundamental Education Reform: Teacher-Led Schools, by Barry McGhan

CLASSROOM PRACTICE
William Hayes III asks, How better to help young people step across the threshold into adulthood than by leading them to answer questions of identity, meaning, and the purpose of life?
541 Gift of the Genie, by William Foster Hayes III

THE PACE OF SCHOOLING
Time is the major resource at our disposal, and we must address how we use it to improve academic learning and performance, Chip Wood reminds us.
545 Changing the Pace of School: Slowing Down the Day to Improve the Quality of Learning, by Chip Wood

SMALLER CLASSES
Jeremy Finn summarizes the research base that has moved districts and states to seek class-size reduction, calls attention to misapplications of the research in some contexts, and describes current research into the long-term consequences of small classes.
551 Small Classes in American Schools: Research, Practice, and Politics, by Jeremy D. Finn