Personalizing the school environment is a central goal of efforts to transform America's schools. Three decades of work by the Project on High Performance Learning Communities are considered that demonstrate the potential impact and importance of the creation of "small learning environments" on student motivation, adjustment, and well-being.…

The first-year results of a Tennessee partnership to support a data-based school improvement effort, the Positive Attitudes in Tennessee Schools Project (PATS), are summarized in this report. The partnership consists of school-site leadership teams, state department of education personnel, and university faculty. Methodology involved two…

This booklet challenges assumptions about the hopelessness of educational reform in urban high schools by presenting the stories of: (1) Theodore Sizer's Coalition of Essential Schools; and (2) Metro High School in Cedar Rapids (Iowa), a school that participates in the Coalition. Following an introduction, the Coalition of Essential Schools…

An assessment of the relative and absolute impact of various educational reform movements on student learning and an analysis of school superintendents' roles in such movements are the purposes of this study. Mailed surveys to 70 experienced New York school superintendents yielded a 78.6 percent response rate. The first phase focused on the…

Presents the background and description of "School of the 21st Century" and "School Development Program" models. Describes the first implementation of the integrated model called CoZi, findings regarding the implementation, the expansion of the model to three pilot schools in different types of communities, and plans for…

Webster Middle School, situated in a large Midwestern city, serves primarily an African-American, lower-to middle-class population. As with many other schools in similar geographic and demographic situations, the academic performance of its students was very poor, the physical facilities were in decay, and enrollments were dropping, with only 250…

The first-year results of a Tennessee college-school partnership program to implement a data-based school improvement change model--the Positive Attitudes in Tennessee Schools Project (PATS)--are summarized in this report. Two major goals of the first year (1989-90) included assessing and improving school climate and enhancing student and teacher…

This report describes the methodology and initial results of an evaluation of the universal (school-wide) Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support (PBIS) initiative in Illinois, including (1) strategies for establishing research-based practices and data-based evaluation systems in implementation schools; (2) methodology and initial findings of…

The present research is a third-party study of the effects of the School Renaissance (SR) comprehensive school reform (CSR) model on student achievement in 11 elementary and middle schools in Texas. The primary measures used in the study were the Texas Learning Index (TLI) reading and mathematics scores obtained through administration of the Texas…