February Contents

1 Editor’s Note: Schools and Democracy

4 Preserving Our Schools and Our Democracy
Bobby Ann Starnes / Phi Delta Kappan
“No child left behind” doesn’t mean consolidating schools.

9 Planning to Ensure Our Schools Are Safe
Naomi Dillon / American School Board Journal
Making our schools unappealing even to total strangers.

12 Where Our High-School Dropout Crisis Really Is
Lawrence Mishel and Joydeep Roy / Phi Delta Kappan
Reasons to read recent research very differently.

22 The Success of Single-Sex Education Is Still Unproven
Gerald W. Bracey / Principal Leadership
There are so many ways that research on it is unsatisfying.

27 Should Our Students Pay to Play Extracurricular Activities?
Dianne L. Hoff and Sidney N. Mitchell / Phi Delta Kappan
A policy that strikes at the heart of free public education.

35 Courting Middle-Class Parents to Use Public Schools
Nora Carr / American School Board Journal
Middle-class families want to support public education.

42 A Single 50-Minute Lunch Hour Fits Everyone
Carole C. Goodman / Principal Leadership
The lunch hour is cited as the centerpiece of the school.

49 Hispanics Find Jobs that Shift Migration
Marilyn Gilroy / The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education
No longer confined to areas near the southern border.

54 What Math Teachers Need Most
Barbara Scott Nelson and Annette Sassi / Principal
New methods and new accountability pressures.

57 Retirees Turn Around Low-Performing Schools
Del Stover / School Board News
Real change takes a commitment of time retirees can afford.

61 Taking a Sheen to Enabling College
Mary Ann Cooper / Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education
Actor Martin Sheen helps a fellow Hispanic at school.

67 The Teachers’ Lounge
71 Washington Scene
75 News in Brief
77 Resources for Educators