In 1988, two metropolitan and four country schools (two of which were remote) in Australia received federal grants to implement technology education. This paper presents the outcomes of the six schools' attempts to implement curriculum innovations associated with technology education and interprets those outcomes in the context of a school-based…

Examines why curriculum planning falls short in site-based management and what can be done about it. Alternative curriculum-planning strategies include holistic planning, construction of thematic units to suit students' individual differences, and a multifaceted, cross-functional approach. Adapting corporate innovations and pursuing strategic…

This paper presents findings of a case study that examined Australian primary teachers' perceptions of school-based curriculum development (SBCD). The study was conducted at Blackpool Primary School, a Catholic school in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Data were derived from participant observation, a teacher questionnaire, interviews with all…

This paper summarizes an ethnohistorical study of the way in which a medium-sized suburban school district's implementation of site-based, shared decision making interacted with attitudes and procedures created by earlier district reforms. A second focus is on how the adoption of a new curriculum framework, based on a whole-language philosophy and…

Jilin is a rural province in northeastern China, known for its forests and forest products such as ginseng. In the past, Jilin's schools focused on preparing students for higher education and offered little of relevance to most rural students. In addition, the schools were understaffed and were managed by a remote, centralized bureaucracy. In…

The school improvement process of the Springfield (Massachusetts) Public School System is offered as a model for school reform. The efforts in Springfield began from the premise that institutions do not reform themselves, and that pressure from the outside, enough to be noticed, but not enough to disrupt, was necessary to spur reform. The work in…

Four school boards in Ontario, Canada, were selected for intensive case studies to examine the models, policies, procedures, and practices used to stimulate, support, coordinate, and assess the effectiveness of curriculum changes within their jurisdictions. The data collection consisted of (1) documents such as organizational charts,…

In Taiwan, technological and vocational education (TVE) the equivalent of career and technical education in the United States has undergone several political and social changes and is poised for applying school-based curriculum development (SBCD). Three reasons for adopting SBCD are planning of an integrated curriculum, concept of student-centered…