The Indiana Choice Scholarship Program has the potential to be the largest school voucher program in the country. Though the authorizing legislation capped enrollment in the program at 7,500 for its first year (the 2011-12 school year), that cap was increased to 15,000 for this year, and will be removed for all subsequent years. With careful…

Three phases of any change effort include initiation, implementation, and continuation. This seventh guidebook in a series of nine video conferences addresses later stages of implementation and continuation (initiation and early stages of implementation are discussed in the sixth guidebook.) In the guidebook are definitions of the three phases of…

Since 1988, considerable state and school/district energies have been devoted to implementing Re:Learning in Pennsylvania. This paper describes the experiences of Cycle I project directors who implemented Re:Learning in late 1988 or early 1989. Re:Learning is a national effort to redesign the total school system, based on Theodore Sizer's (1984)…

Background/Context: School districts are responsible for helping schools improve learning for students. However, many district initiatives conflict with each other or with existing instructional practices in schools. Recent research on urban school reform points to the value of program coherence in sustaining school change. Our paper addresses an…

Comprehensive school improvement is based on reorganizing and revitalizing the entire school rather than focusing on specific student populations or programs. An overview of 17 schoolwide reform programs is provided in this book. The purpose of the text is to give education leaders basic information about some of the best-known externally…

Factors such as the need for flexible, responsive schools prompted the 1980s national dialogue about possible societal and economic changes in the role of the educational system. Those same factors set the national and Minnesota agenda for youth in the 1990s and on into the 21st Century. Changes that occur in the educational systems should achieve…

Describes restructuring objectives and changes at a suburban middle school in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Although collaborative planning led to predictable changes (interdisciplinary teaching, advisories, flexible scheduling, common planning time, core curricula, and a discipline system), several unplanned changes occurred regarding home-school…

Guidelines for transforming and improving the nation's public schools are presented in this book, with a focus on the regional laboratory's program for educational change. The program is organized around "designing schools for enhanced learning" and is based on three principles--a focus on learning, a systemic approach to change, and…

Describes an assistant superintendent's experience in developing and implementing similar school reform plans in two high school settings. The less affluent but more successful school tied its restructuring plans to Coalition of Essential Schools principles. The key elements for success were energy, vision, and faculty and community commitment.…

This paper describes the initial efforts of the New American Schools Development Corporation (NASDC), a private, nonprofit corporation created as part of the American 2000 initiative to fund the development of new designs for American schools. NASDC is currently funding nine teams to develop and demonstrate designs for high-performing schools.…

General guidelines for companies interested in supporting school-based restructuring are offered in this booklet. Following a brief review of the nature and types of partnerships, chapter 2 examines partnerships within the context of school restructuring outcomes and identifies some essential components for developing a reform-model partnership.…

This examination of the New American Schools Development Corporation initiative in Bensenville (Illinois) details the controversy over the reform effort and argues that factors such as school governance, local control, and school finance played major roles in determining program outcomes. The importance of political influences in reform efforts is…

This feature issue on inclusion and school restructuring for students with and without disabilities contains the following articles: (1) "The 7 Habits for Educators" (Terri Vandercook); (2) "The Evolution of Inclusive Education" (Jennifer York-Barr and Terri Vandercook); (3) "Creating Inclusive Schools: What Does the…

Describes a collaborative, interdisciplinary curriculum project, the QUEST Program, at Northampton (Massachusetts) High School. The program was embraced by school staff and collaboratively designed with Smith College faculty. The article examines roadblocks and requirements to educational change within QUEST and discusses problems with instituting…

This paper reports on a multiple case study of building administrators in a suburban school district in Oklahoma which implemented a unitary system of inclusion of students with disabilities in age-appropriate regular classrooms. The study focused particularly on how administrators developed shared meanings during the change process. Data were…