Too many students still experience the factory model evident in most U.S. high schools, which were designed to put young people on a conveyor belt and move them from one overloaded teacher to the next, in 45-minute increments, to be stamped with separate, disconnected lessons 7 or 8 times a day. While these factory-model designs may have worked…

A mainstay in NCLB and the Obama administration education plan is turning around low-performing schools. This study utilized surveys and interviews with school leaders from four turnaround urban high schools in Texas to understand student outcomes before and after school restructuring and reconstitution. Although some organizational changes were…

This report summarizes a conversation that took place in April of 2010 in Washington, DC regarding high school reform and Native American, Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian students. The meeting was co-sponsored by the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) and the National Education Association (NEA). The meeting was attended by a broad…

The purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics, core beliefs, and activities of successful middle grades programs. Schools in Florida are held to standards of accountability under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the Florida System of School Improvement and Accountability, and the Florida Secondary Schools Redesign Act.…

In response to Mr. Ayers and Mr. Klonsky, Mr. Duncan argues that Chicago's Renaissance 2010 initiative is holding adults accountable by closing low-performing schools rather than trapping children in a failing educational environment.

This article explores what it takes to develop systemic strategies and structures that engage youth as coconstructors of their learning environment and experience. It looks at efforts nationwide to engage young people in educational change endeavors, draws on lessons learned from a national high school reform initiative, and addresses some…

For its sixth national conference, a national collaboration in support of school reform sharpened its focus by asking Houston Independent School District (HISD) to host the conference and serve as a "case study." HISD was an ideal subject because of a long history of addressing statewide standards-based reform and engaging in multiple…

A basic tenet of the effective-schools movement is that all children can master the basic skills needed to be successful in school. Today, the twin notions of equity and excellence strongly drive the school-reform movement. This book examines the effective-schools movement as a school-reform philosophy and renewal process for the present and…

This article tells the story of one elementary school faculty who responded to the call for accountability by adopting an inclusive view and implementing educational practices where all students were welcomed and considered valuable, contributing members of the school community. The inclusion of students with disabilities in the general education…

The Blue Ribbon Commission on Diversity and Equity, appointed by the Superintendent of the Saint Paul (Minnesota) Public Schools, reviewed the policies and practices of the city's public schools, focusing on the low achievement of students of color. The Commission presented its report in May 1994, and this report is the Superintendent's response.…

Inspired by the gains in student achievement realized by the small schools movement in New York City, the Oakland Unified School District (California) has proposed creating a network of 10 new, small autonomous (NSA) schools over the next 3 years. School size will range between 250 and 500 students, depending on grade level. "Autonomous"…

Turning around a low-performing school is a complex process in which cause-effect relationships are difficult to isolate. But recent interest in helping low-performing schools--spurred on by the reforms mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act--has generated some useful research and thoughtful analysis. This digest explores some of the key…

School culture has recently emerged as a framework for the study and interpretation of the structure and development of schools. This paper reviews a work culture productivity model and reports the development of a culture instrument. The use of second-order component analysis shows areas of generalization across primary factors. The School Work…

Although analogous and vague definitions of school climate may help in determining whether low-achieving students are experiencing a more positive or negative school climate, more clarity is needed to render the climate construct more observable, measurable, and malleable. Tagiuri conceptualizes climate as the total environmental quality within an…

Educational change depends on the development of total school system readiness. An analysis of the school evaluation process is the purpose of this report. Essential steps to determine school readiness for restructuring include the assessment, profiling, and integration of interrelated system components, which include focus and support factors.…