Maris A. Vinovskis

An Analysis of the Concept and Uses of Systemic Educational Reform

The concept of systemic reform has become one of the centerpieces of the Clinton administration’s educational policies. In order to clarify the current discussion about systemic reform in education as well as to stimulate additional discourse about its advantages and disadvantages, this article will trace the origin of the idea of systemic reform, place the concept within the context of educational developments in the 1980s and 1990s, and consider how systemic reform is being interpreted and applied by analysts and policymakers today.

Have social historians lost the Civil War? Some preliminary demographic speculations.

As a first step toward an assessment of the Civil Wars influence this article explores its demographic impact. By looking at the number of Union and Confederate soldiers who died and comparing the results with mortality in other wars one can gauge the magnitude of the Civil War. Having established that a very high proportion of military-age white males fought and died in the Civil War the article considers how the peculiarities of that conflict may have affected the participants wartime experiences. Then preliminary results from an in-depth study of Newburyport Massachusetts during the Civil War are used to sketch the social and economic background of those who fought and died in that conflict. Finally the article examines the impact of the Civil War on the survivors. Given the paucity of research on the influence of the Civil War on the postwar lives of ordinary Americans I offer a preliminary demographic analysis of the federal pension program using aggregate statistics as one indication of the type of studies that might be done. (EXCERPT)

Learning from the Past. What History Teaches Us about School Reform.

Many Americans view todays problems in education as an unprecedented crisis brought on by the rise of contemporary social problems. In Learning from the Past a group of distinguished educational historians and scholars of public policy reminds us that many current difficulties-as well as recent reform efforts-have important historical antecedents. What can we learn, they ask, from nineteenth-century efforts to promote early childhood education, or debates in the 1920s about universal secondary education, or the curriculum reforms of the 1950s? Reflecting a variety of intellectual and disciplinary orientations, the contributors to this volume examine major changes in educational development and reform, consider how such changes have been implemented in the past, and warn against , exaggerating their benefits. They address questions of governance, equity and multiculturalism, curriculum standards, school choice, and a variety of other issues. Policy makers and other school reformers, they conclude, would do well to investigate the past in order to appreciate the implications of the present reform initiatives.

Population Policy in Western Europe: Responses to Low Fertility in France, Sweden, and West Germany.

An examination of governmental response to fertility decline in industrialized countries focuses primarily on actions taken in France Sweden and West Germany. These nations were chosen because they represent the ethnic and linguistic diversity of Western Europe. In Eastern Europe soon after fertility reached replacement levels 5 of 7 countries implemented comprehensive and coordinated policies to encourage childbearing. The policy responses of both Eastern and Western Eruope are briefly reviewed. A common action was to upgrade the level of assistance provided to families. The influences on the population-related decisions of Western European political leaders are speculated to include the perceived relationships between population and national power between population and economic well-being and the role of the state. These relationships are examined through an historical and contemporary review. The 1st systematic efforts by modern governments to raise the birth rate took place in the 1920s and 1930s. Depression and international tension influenced many governments to view low fertility as a threat to national survival. Frances response stemmed from a concern over national power however definitive policy decisions were delayed due to fear on increased state intervention that appeared essentially socialistic. Restrictive laws to prevent the use of birth control were largely ineffective however passage of the Family Code with its system of family allowances represented the 1st population/family policy effort. Pronatalist sentiment in Germany appeared around 1900 but during the 1920s undermined by the rapid spread of the family planning movement. The Nazi population policy was influenced by beliefs in racial and sexual inequality and the primary needs of the state. Repressive laws were harshly enforced although their effectiveness was questionable. The effect on German attitudes toward population policy was lasting. Demographic transition was well documented in Sweden which implemented a population register system in 1749. Interest in population issues in 1900 was influenced by defense needs and the birth control movement. The policy that developed was intended to improve the quality of life of families through cash awards and allowances. The 3 nations are similar in their concern over national power and France and Sweden shared an interest in the promotion of social welfare and equality as well as increasing the birth rate. The effect of the policies appears to have been in the timing of births not overall fertility. Current concerns of these countries are related to the deterioration of economic well-being of some groups as the populations age.

Family and Schooling in Colonial and Nineteenth-Century America

Throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, both parents and schools played an important part in the education of young Ameri cans. While historians of the family and of education have frequently acknowledged these complementary, if not sometimes conflicting, institutions in the training of the young, very little effort has been made to examine the interactions between them. The family was an important source of education for children in colonial and nineteenth- century America. But from the very beginning churches and schools were directed to assist parents in the socialization of the young. Indeed, by the mid-nineteenth century, the role of the schools had expanded to such an extent that many of the educational tasks initially assigned to parents, such as teaching children the alphabet and how to read, became the responsibility of the schools.

The Great Care of Godly Parents: Early Childhood in Puritian New England.

The history of early childhood in premodern America remains to be written. While interest in early American childhood has remained high since the 1960s, most of it has been focused on older children-particularly adolescents. The lack of historical attention paid to young children is unfortunate because efforts on behalf of the young child by their families, churches, and schools can provide us with useful insights not only about the child but also about the dynamics of these institutions in the socialization of the young. This chapter will focus on three aspects of the young Puritan child in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.1 First, we will analyze Puritan ideology and how it may have influenced attitudes toward childrenespecially how views of infant damnation and of the childs will may have affected the responses of adults. Second, we will investigate whether Puritans really saw young children as distinct and different from others or

The Jacobson life table of 1850: a critical reexamination from a Massachusetts perspective.

Perspective Most scholars approach life tables with considerable trepidation. The figures appear precise yet formidable, and the columns labeled nmx, nqx, and Ix seem so mysterious and incomprehensible that few individuals care or dare to penetrate their actual meaning. Yet life tables are an indispensable tool for social historians-not only providing information on the overall levels of mortality, but also as a crucial ingredient for reconstructing the hypothetical experiences of a cohort of individuals traced through their life course. In the hands of skilled demographers, these life tables help to recapture the experiences of ordinary individuals which might be otherwise lost.1 Since the construction of life tables usually depends on the availability of information on the number of deaths by age as well as the age structure of the population, few life tables are available for nineteenth-century America because most states had not developed a comprehensive system for registering deaths.2 As a result, one of the few existing life tables for the mid-nineteenth century, Jacobsons Life Table of 1850, has become the

Historical perspectives on adolescent pregnancy and education in the United States

Adolescent births in early America often were viewed as part of broader concerns about premarital sexual activity and out-of-wedlock births in general. In the second half of the 20th century, adolescent pregnancies and teen out-of-wedlock births were seen as special challenges to American society. There is growing unease about the lack of high-quality education received by young mothers. Periodically, the federal government has taken an active interest in trying to reduce unintended adolescent pregnancies as well as to provide more educational opportunities for everyone. Many of those initiatives have had only limited impact so far.

The politics of abortion in the House of Representatives in 1976.

The discussion in the U. S. Congress preceeding the passage of the 1976 Hyde Amendment, prohibiting the use of Medicaid funds for abortions, was described and the results of a multivariate analysis of the factors influencing the votes on the amendment in the House of Representatives were presented. Between June 24-August 10, 1976 there were 3 roll call votes on the amendment in the House of Representatives and during this period support for the amendment increased from 54%-69%. Multiple classification analysis was used to analyze the relative influence of 11 independent variables on the voting behavior of the representatives. The 11 variables included 1) the age, educational level, sex, and religious affliation of the representative; 2) the representatives party affliation, degree of constituent support, and previous voting record on liberal issues; and 3) the average income, racial composition, geographical location, and the % of urban residents in the representatives district. The factor which served as the best indicator of the representatives vote on the amendment was the representatives previous voting record on liberal issues. Those with more liberal voting records tended to vote against the amendment and those with more conservative voting records tended to vote for the amendment. The 2nd best predictor of amendment votes was the religious affliation of the representative. Catholic representatives, compared to Protestant and Jewish representatives, were more likely to support the amendment. Geographical location of the representatives district was a moderate indicator of the representatives vote on the amendment. Representatives from the south were more likely to support the amendment. The degree of constituent support for the representative in his own district was also a moderate indicator of the representatives vote on the amendment. The 11 factors together accounted for 1/3 of the votes.

Religion, family, and the life course : explorations in the social history of early America

Explores historical, religious, and social meaning in early America through various stages of human life.