In this essay, the author reviews "Education Reform in New York City: Ambitious Change in the Nation's Most Complex School System," by Jennifer A. O'Day, Catherine S. Bitter, and Louis Gomez. The book under review explores a larger set of issues, and some time has passed. But many of the issues studied remain relevant and the consistent…

Meier is no bleeding-heart liberal who oversimplifies difficulties involved in creating classrooms and schools reflective of productive learning contexts. Larger system of school governance is inimical to creating such contexts. In his book "How Schools Might Be Governed and Why" (Teacher's College Press, 1997), author argues that the…

Can Total Quality Management (TQM) improve the performance of school systems in meaningful ways? This paper evaluates the soundness of TQM as an improvement program for education by comparing its philosophy and prescriptions with the mounting theoretical and empirical wisdom on introducing and sustaining large-scale organizational change and more…

A growing number of researchers are questioning the usefulness of reform strategies that do not provide teachers with specific information about how to implement changes. The replication of successful programs depends on giving teachers the tools they need to carry out reforms by explaining them in detail. (SLD)

Ways in which strategies drawn from the local change process literature can enhance the broader implementation of a new approach to site-based management (SBM) are described in this paper. The first section presents a new conceptual framework for SBM that is based on decentralizing power, knowledge, information, and rewards within systemic…

The RAND study of change agent programs, explored the innovative process in local school systems. Specifically, it sought to identify the impact of these federal programs on local educational systems: the Elementary Secondary Education Act, Title III; Vocational Education; ESEA Title VII (Bilingual Projects); and the Right to Read Program. This…

Discusses 10 major school change strategies engaging the author's energy, beginning with training in group dynamics in the 1950s through today's emphasis on school restructuring. Other strategies included innovation diffusion and transfer, organizational self-renewal, knowledge transfer, creation of new schools, supported implementation, local…

Why do good ideas created and promulgated by bright, dedicated people have no significant, lasting effects on teaching? The answer: reformers meddle in trained teachers' everyday practice--educating students. Few professions take kindly to laypersons forcing reforms in their practices. Any school-restructuring initiative must include teachers in…

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,…

The major challenges for educational reform today are assembling disparate pieces of information to create sustainable systemic change and "scaling up" systemic reform to encompass all schools, all programmatic areas, all levels of schooling and diverse social contexts. Mid-continent Regional Education Laboratory (McREL) has begun to organize its…

There has been much recent debate in both educational and political circles about the utility of choice as a means of improving the educational system. This book argues that any discussion of choice must address choice in public schools. The book is organized into seven chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of choice in public education,…

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 book provides insights into how one state department of education perceived its role in the interpretation and implementation of educational reform legislation. It is based on the experiences of a former state department of education employee and her coworker, who were hired to administer three new programs to increase teacher retention--a…

Examines school-based management as an effective strategy for optimizing the individual performance of teachers, students, and parents. Under school-based management, principals and teachers are given total responsibility for budgeting, selecting textbooks, scheduling, and hiring. This system provides flexibility in relationships with the broader…

The proposed deployment of the National Research and Education Network (NREN) offers an unprecedented opportunity for shaping a new expression of civic and pedagogical culture. It can be a positive force for change or a regressive distribution of resources and influence to those already most in possession of them. To prepare for the NREN, the…