Some Key Bush Proposals:

By Susan Tifft

FREEDOM TO CHOOSE SCHOOLS

President Bush's version of the "choice" idea focuses on two major plans: magnet schools, which attract students by developing specialties in areas like drama and science; and open enrollment, which permits parents to move their children from schools they do not like to ones they do.

Both approaches are being tried around the country. In locations from San Francisco to New York's East Harlem, parents are free to shop around for what they judge to be the best public school in the district. Minnesota goes further: it is phasing in a program that by 1990 will allow students to attend virtually any public school in the state so long as the move does not harm desegregation efforts. Earlier this year, Arkansas, Iowa, Ohio and Nebraska adopted similar plans; eleven other states are moving toward choice. But it is unclear how many families will take advantage of such freedom: in Minnesota only 3,800 children -- less than 1% of the state's student population -- asked to cross district lines this fall.

Advocates like choice because it empowers parents and fosters competition among schools. Critics say the policy is racist, encouraging parents to take their children and tax dollars out of minority-dominated inner-city schools.

SIMPLER LICENSING OF TEACHERS

As recently as 1983, only eight states allowed full-time staff teachers to be hired without an undergraduate degree in education or classroom experience. Now 23 states have eased training and certification requirements, considered by many to be the most formidable and unnecessary barrier to attracting teaching talent. The result has been an influx of military retirees and career switchers from other professions -- some 2,500 in all during the 1987-88 school year. These recruits have helped reduce teacher shortages and have reinvigorated the classroom. Last spring Bush proposed $25 million in grants to encourage other states to follow suit; the measure awaits congressional action.

Some state teachers' unions have opposed legislation aimed at luring job switchers, arguing that it allows unqualified people into the classroom. However, many mid-careerists charge that the traditional system is too rigid, forcing even seasoned professionals to take two years of what New Jersey Education Commissioner Saul Cooperman calls "Mickey Mouse" education courses. Both camps agree on one point. Says Katherine Foster, 34, who gave up dentistry for the classroom to become a ninth- and tenth-grade teacher in San Benito County, Calif.: "Teaching is more rewarding than anything I ever imagined."

PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN SCHOOLS AND BUSINESSES

In the 21st century the U.S. work force will need fewer strong backs and more strong minds. To prepare for that future, local businesses are pairing up with local schools to provide students with training and jobs. Since 1974 St. Louis County has had a program, now expanded to Kansas City, that gives high school seniors two hours of instruction each day at area work sites. About half the participating students, who this year number 100, get jobs after graduation; most of the rest go on to college. California has had a similar program since 1983 that involves some 35,000 students and former dropouts, most of whom are linked to local hospitals and doctors' offices. The purpose: to teach them health-industry vocational skills. After 1,300 students dropped out of area high schools last year, Orlando launched a school-business compact. In return for a written pledge to stay in school, troubled youths ages 14 to 18 are paired with "mentors" from local firms who offer counseling as well as a promise of a full-time job upon graduation or financial aid for more education. More than 90 students have enrolled so far this fall. Like most school-business partnerships, the Orlando program is small, localized and ! labor intensive. But the work-study approach, which Bush backs, appears ripe for application on a broader scale.

EXAMS FOR GRADUATION AND PROMOTION

During the 1988 campaign, Bush endorsed the idea of requiring all students to pass minimum competency tests before they are promoted or permitted to graduate. Only a handful of states have adopted this plan over the past few years, however, and the jury is still out on whether it actually improves performance.

In Texas, where such tests have been mandatory since 1985, average scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test have remained flat and the dropout rate high. Critics maintain that real learning has been stifled. "Teachers are teaching to the test," says John Moore, chairman of the education department at San Antonio's Trinity University. Some South Carolinians, on the other hand, feel that their three-hour high school exit exam in reading, writing and math -- which for the first time will be required for a diploma this academic year -- has already had a salutary effect. "Students are taking it seriously and studying," says Robert Paskel, a state education monitor. One worry: that kids who do not pass will become discouraged and eventually drop out. "Holding students back, especially in the lower grades, doesn't help," says Bill Honig, state superintendent of public instruction in California.