Meeting the Calls for Excellence: Implications for Law-Related Education.

Overview & Synopsis

The current concern with educational excellence and reform prompted by six recent national reports has significant implications for law-related education (LRE). These reports are A Nation At Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform, Action for Excellence, Making the Grade: Report of the Twentieth Century Fund Task Force on Federal Elementary and Secondary Education Policy, Educating Americans for the 21st Century, Academic Preparation for College: What Students Need to Know and Be Able to Do, and High School: A Report on Secondary Education in America. The six reports have several major recommendations in common that include the need to: clarify educational goals, strengthen school curricula, raise expectations for student performance, increase the time spent on academic subjects, improve teaching quality, and marshal the resources necessary to improve the schools. Law-related educators must respond to these recommendations by emphasizing the critical role of citizenship education, clarifying how LRE fits into the core curriculum, advocating the inclusion of LRE in competency testing, supporting incentives for professional training for teachers, and encouraging greater community involvement in education. (LP)