Describes how two Orlando, Florida, high schools enhanced student success by implementing community-generated restructuring plans. Block scheduling helped improve attendance and grade point averages. Also, a survey of teachers and students disclosed school climate gains in the areas of safety, success, involvement, commitment, interpersonal…

In 1987, Western Australia implemented a school-based management program called "Better Schools," which attempted to create "self-determining schools." Central to the restructuring effort was the establishment of school-based decision-making groups (SBDMGs), which permitted school staff and community representatives to exercise…

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…

The New American Schools Development Corporation (NASDC) was established in 1991 to fund the development of organizations that would create designs for innovative schools and help schools implement those designs. The plan deliberately develops expert organizations to help whole schools transform themselves. This handbook summarizes RAND's…

Few of the current major efforts to improve urban schools adequately appreciate the extent to which the problematic social climate of urban schools can undermine the implementation of even very good ideas. As a result, programs often come and go with little lasting impact. This paper uses ethnographic fieldwork to illustrate the ways dysfunctional…

Proponents of school restructuring agree that it must occur with support from all stakeholder groups. This paper presents findings of a study that examined to what extent educational personnel engaged in restructuring (principals, teachers, and external facilitators of change) agreed or disagreed that 60 conditions identified in the research…

This paper focuses on the instructional leadership role behavior of school principals in relation to the management of special education programs. A framework is presented of the principal's role in seven broad areas of instructional management: community, beliefs and experience, institutional context, principal's routine behaviors, instructional…

A case study of a large nonselective urban high school in Baltimore (Maryland) describes the design and implementation of a comprehensive package of school reforms, the Talent Development Model with Career Academies. Qualitative and quantitative evidence is provided on significant improvements in school climate, student attendance, promotion…

This book provides insights into one of the nation's largest and most comprehensive school-restructuring movements, the Accelerated Schools Project. Since its inception in 1986, the focus of the movement has been on transforming schools with students at risk of dropping out into schools with high expectations of all students. This is accomplished,…

This literature review focuses on the application of technology (primarily the computer) to education. No single vision drives the infusion of technology into the schools, although social, vocational, pedagogic, and catalytic rationales have been proposed. Technology has a role in school restructuring by standardizing and automating procedures.…

Climate and culture are inherent in the life of every organization, including schools. They are difficult to define and even more difficult to change, yet any reform effort must address them first if it is to succeed. This report helps school leaders understand these crucial factors and measure their influences on the school. It offers various…

This paper presents findings of a study that explored the link between school reform and classroom practice. Two interdisciplinary teacher teams comprised of a total of 11 teachers were studied at Cross Keys Middle School in Flourissant, Missouri, to understand how school-level reform becomes translated into classroom practice. Data were collected…

Designed as a guide for practitioners, this book draws on over 600 sources to discuss school restructuring definitions, trends, and issues; achievements of a few select schools; and implementation techniques and strategies. Two overarching, indirectly stated issues pervading the reconceptualization of schooling are multiculturalism and a caring…

Through professional development schools (PDSs), the College of Education at Texas Tech University has attempted to link school and teacher education renewal with research. In 1990, the university and Lubbock Independent School District initiated PDSs at a junior high school and an elementary school. Three additional PDS sites have been initiated…

In 1989, a long-term partnership began between International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation and the Austin Independent School District (AISD) to form Project A+ (later named the A+ Coalition), a program designed to be a catalyst for educational improvement by identifying fundamental changes needed to enhance education and to marshal community…