Over the past year, many national leaders have committed to reform education and reshape America's school system. With this goal in mind, the Obama administration created a competitive grant program entitled Race to the Top (RTTT), which was passed by Congress as a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). RTTT features two grant…

Describes an innovative secondary schools project which did not initially succeed, despite a collaborative approach, shared decision making, local control, and a decentralized structure. Contends that preexisting expectations and assumptions about change, shared by participants, can inhibit a progressive, elaborately preplanned change model.…

Project Process, funded through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title VIII, is an integrated model within the existing school system concentrating on reducing the number of dropouts via an institutional change strategy. The basic goal of the project is to develop a flexible atmosphere where learning can take place. Within this goal is…

The Rainbow Connection Society at a community elementary magnet school in Lynn (Massachusetts) attempts to establish a schoolwide version of the best aspects of U.S. society in a school setting. A "microsociety" theme forms the hub of six educational strands and all facets of school programming. (SLD)

This book focuses on the question of how citizen participation affects the making of the school budget, the crucial controlling instrument of modern bureaucratic organizations. The four communities studied differed in size, social and economic characteristics, and form of government. Chapter 1 introduces the topic and begins the discussion of the…

The conference program included four alternative schools which are really unique in that each of the four schools operates with the expressed approval of the board of education or school committee in its particular community and each receives some portion of its support, both financial and moral, from the same board of education or school…

This handbook draws attention to the problem of dropouts in Massachusetts and offers solutions to increase the chances that all students will succeed. It suggests the need for systemic, school-based changes to foster learning environments that meet the emotional, social, physical, and cognitive needs of all students and staff. The handbook is…