The Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program (CSRD) is designed to assist low-performing schools, especially Title I schools. Grants are awarded through statewide competitions. This report offers the findings of Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning's analysis of the application process and characteristics of first-round…

A computer was used to produce a cost effective redistricting plan for Fall River (Massachusetts) that eliminated nine rental and three city-owned school buildings, and reduced transportation costs. (Author/MLF)

Redrawing school attendance boundaries is one of the most sensitive tasks a school board faces. Factors to consider include the following: (1) life span of the change; (2) effective date; (3) racial balance; (4) resource equity; and (5) program, public, and financial impact. Outlines a process for developing redistricting plans. (MLF)

Presents results of a detailed study of potential cost savings from consolidation of New York school districts. Develops a theoretical framework that distinguishes several economy-of-scale dimensions and defines an empirical cost function for schooling. Results indicate substantial cost savings from consolidating districts with fewer than 500…

Deplores the dearth of a national policy for secondary school reorganization in Great Britain. Although "bottom-up" research has its uses, a "top-down" research plan would produce a critical mass of material for generalization and the formulation and testing of general hypotheses about educational policymaking. (MLH)

This document is a collection of five reports on school restructuring in Iowa from 1989 to 1993. The first report summarizes the restructuring activities in Iowa school districts during 1989, addresses problems that developed during the year, and chronicles future restructuring events. It also gives a historical perspective on school restructuring…

In 1987 New Zealand faced multiple economic problems and high unemployment. A flexible and responsive education system was needed to produce the skills, attitudes, and learning required for New Zealand's future. The primary objective was decentralizing authority to school level. This book emphasizes the process of successful reform, rather than…

Considers some of the reasons for, and the advantages of, the movement towards school consolidation that has led to the disappearance of some 73,000 school districts in the last 25 years. (WM)

In states with a large number of small school districts, such as Colorado (exemplified by the the case study examined in this paper), reorganization would seemingly result in significant economies of scale and equalization of the tax bases that support the schools. (Author)

Beset with rising costs and inequity problems, Greensboro City, High Point City, and Guilford County districts merged to become North Carolina's third largest district, with 59,000 students. Although the superintendent had to downsize staff, eliminate special-interest programs, and refashion summer school, the merger yielded wider community…

Believing that their desegregation plans met court-ordered guidelines, three Arkansas school districts (Little Rock, North Little Rock, and Pulaski County) found that U.S. District Judge Woods had scrapped these plans and appointed a New York desegregation expert (Eugene Reville) in charge of the three districts. Sidebars discuss salary and court…

When forced to close 6 schools because of declining enrollment, Topeka (Kansas) Public Schools had to transfer thousands of students and reassign 385 teachers. The district had great success with a newly designed teacher assignment process borrowing from the National Football League draft but including special features benefiting teachers and…

Describes a Levittown (New York) elementary principal's strategy for handling a permanent school closure resulting from unfavorable demographic trends, rising taxes, and drastic cutbacks in state aid. All students were given tours of a newly created middle school or alternative elementary schools, and K-4 students participated in pen pal exchanges…

This ERIC digest focuses on school restructuring as the central issue in the school reform movement by answering five questions: (1) What is "restructuring?" (2) What characteristics of the current educational system are the objects of reform? (3) How can restructuring attend to new skills students will need? (4) How can individual…