Explored the implementation of middle level reform components in both high- and low-performing middle schools, seeking to identify factors linked to student achievement. Found that organizational health, which includes academic focus, teacher affiliation, and resource support, more directly influences student performance than simple implementation…

Studies in five Missouri districts identified eight characteristics deterring change and constituting an "informal covenant" between teachers and principals. Eight corresponding conditions essential to change include relating changes to a school's culture, knowing local procedures and sensitive issues, recognizing moments when changes are…

Major programatic reforms or significant changes in roles and relationships within the educational system are unlikely to emerge given the lack of attention to the actors, process of implementation, and underlying values of the reform movement. The article's focus is state-level reform initiatives. (IAH)

The characteristics and structures of school-focused inservice teacher education are explored by educators and researchers in 16 essays. An introductory article gives the rationale for more and better school-focused inservice education, particularly because of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142). School-focused…

Collaborative planning between Western Kentucky University and a local junior high school resulted in a successful new program for student discipline that was accepted and implemented by teachers and administrators. Inservice training was provided in positive discipline strategies, based on Glasser's reality therapy, over a two-year (1974-76)…

The concept of "instructional leadership" springs from a desire to relate school administration to instruction, but it does little to suggest what the specific links between the two might be. It obscures the uncertainty and tension that is bound to arise from serious efforts to restructure the schools. (BJV)

This book is designed as a guide for implementing quality child care environments at preschool and school-age levels for children ages 1 through 10. Evolving from a child-centered philosophy, the book contains six integrated and interdependent sections that respectively, provide an overview of child care and discuss child care center design,…

Children who are raised in poverty currently run grave risks of educational failure. This paper approaches the issue, not through concentrating on special problems of, and programs for, the educationally at-risk, but through focusing on the educational problems of young people generally and on the effect that schools, not programs, play in…

Instructional leadership for principals is not a panacea for the ills of education. Efforts to alter principal practices to meet this poorly defined and poorly researched construct reflect a lack of self-reference in the educational field. More study and thought are needed before plans of action are imposed. (BJV)

This synthesis of recent literature on school effectiveness offers educators empirical research on which to base plans for staff development and school improvement. The introduction notes the limitations of effective schools research and points out its potential to clarify thought about schools. A section on instruction reviews research on…