Background/Context: The U.S. federal government has been interested in improving the performance of students who come from low-income homes since the time of Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" initiatives in the 1960s. The current administration strongly supports the belief that good schools can be created and has funded the Comprehensive…

This policy brief focuses on design issues surrounding decentralization policies, drawing from the following three reports: "Working Models of Choice in Public Education," by Richard F. Elmore; "Diversity Amidst Standardization: State Differential Treatment of Districts," by Susan H. Fuhrman; and "School District Restructuring in Santa Fe, New…

Effective strategies for developing early childhood centers in public schools are discussed in this paper, which draws from a research-based literature search and intensive case studies of six Northwest sites. The sites represent a range of rural, suburban, and urban programs; large and small schools; and a variety of program features. The sites…

Reviews five dimensions (focus, scope, structure, process, and capacity) of an organizational design used by 20 New York districts planning for site-based management (SBM) implementation. The confusion surrounding devolution of decision making hinders districts' efforts to effect changes in intermediate variables (job satisfaction and staff…

This paper on school-college partnerships summarizes the recent history of these efforts, the "lessons learned" about collaboration, gaps where further study is needed, and an annotated bibliography of significant resources. The history of school-college partnerships began in the 19th century and has continued throughout the 20th century with the…