Schools are beset with a serious "alienation gap" between teachers and students that is no less a problem than the "achievement gap." Increasing student voice is thought to be one means to fill the gap, for it activates agency and thereby decreases passivity. The extent of agency ranges from attentive adult listening to strong student leadership.…

Discusses Frederick Wiseman's film "High School" in terms of the audience's perspective of the following themes: power, authority, identity, alienation, sexuality, and boredom. Illustrates how these themes relate to each other to form a structure that invites rhetorical response. (JMF)

Offers an account of a group of high school students who translated critical thinking into action, through their Riverside High Social Justice and Equity Group. Illustrates the degree of discomfort that may be engendered when students offer other "readings" of their schools and attempt to rewrite power relations in active constructions…

The systemic reform exemplified by the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA) requires the coupling of top-down state mandates with bottom-up advocacy and leadership. This research on an Eastern Kentucky school district details the dynamics at the district's main high school, as people struggle to build both a community of learners within…

The study reported here is based on the belief that the social discontent that is frequently in evidence stems in part from individuals being trapped in dehumanizing organizational mazes which apply bureaucratic rules in an attempt to control human behavior in light of organizational needs. This investigation, therefore, set out to discover the…

A summary is presented of a study to determine the impact of school authority systems on student disengagement from high school. Student disengagement is defined as the extent to which students refrain from participating in activities offered as part of the school program, tasks of scholarship and citizenship, and extracurricular activities. The…

This report details the findings of a study to determine the impact of school authority systems on student disengagement from high school. The study, guided by Dornbusch and Scott's theory of evaluation and authority, examined the impact of four types of incompatibilities in the system for the evaluation of student performance on three forms of…