The purpose of this study is to identify different types of school leadership as perceived by teachers and to test the extent that these types predict teacher retention. School leadership varies by perception, context, and may influence a teacher's decision to leave their current school or the profession. Four statistically different types of…

This article reports findings from a study of the experiences of 11 school principals who are leading the conversion of a large, comprehensive, urban high school into six thematic small schools. Specifically, this study addresses the question, What do high school principals identify as the leadership challenges and opportunities embedded in the…

One of the most telling characteristics of U.S. schools is professional isolation. On their way to visit a RE:Learning School in Illinois, a junior high school principal and three teachers begrudged the time and money invested in the trip. On the way back, they wondered how long educators could keep going without collegial support from networking.…

Highlights the initial restructuring efforts begun by a Pennsylvania high school participating in the Coalition of Essential Schools. After several years of discussion, the staff undertook summer inservice training featuring a reading project, an ideal/reality exercise, a shadowing project, and a school visitation process. Choosing an…

After investigating alternatives, a Missouri high school adopted the eight-block flexible scheduling model. Instead of meeting 45-60 minutes every day, classes now meet 94 minutes every other day. Staff and students are enthusiastic. Longer instructional periods allow teachers to develop key concepts and use diverse learning activities and permit…

Delaware's early experience with the RE:Learning project affirms the necessity of simultaneous top-down and bottom-up reform efforts. Other critical ingredients include awareness of the critical need for change and strong incentives for bucking the status quo. Resistant teacher and administrator mindsets must also be transformed. (MLH)

A Long Island survey found that secondary principals want teachers to be computer literate, skilled at writing and public speaking, firmly grounded in their subject areas, and proficient in a second language. Respondents omitted three important concerns: inclusion of parents and community resources, stress on higher-level thinking tasks, and…

Through the community's active involvement in developing, promoting, implementing, and maintaining Career Quest, the Dothan (Alabama) Public Schools have been restructured to meet all students' needs. District schools feature a high school tech prep/college prep curriculum and a comprehensive K-12 career education system. Area businesses are now…

The strategies comprising America 2000 are organized around four themes: creating better and more accountable schools for today's students, creating a new generation of schools for tomorrow's students, transforming United States into a nation of students, and making our communities places where learning will happen. Long-range impacts, issues, and…

Engaging the curriculum means creating conditions demanding that teachers be excited and inquisitive about learning. Restructured schools succeed by altering behaviors and beliefs, restoring professional pride, sharing decision-making responsibility, providing visionary leadership, developing clear institutional goals, valuing students, stressing…

Summarizes a report published by the NASSP Study of the Restructuring of the American High School. Outlines nine educational goals and recommendations on renewal priorities for curriculum, instructional strategies, school environment, technology, organization and time, assessment and accountability, professional development, diversity, governance,…

This article explores what it takes to develop systemic strategies and structures that engage youth as coconstructors of their learning environment and experience. It looks at efforts nationwide to engage young people in educational change endeavors, draws on lessons learned from a national high school reform initiative, and addresses some…

A Virginia school system independently arrived at and implemented some recommendations from NASSP's 1996 report "Breaking Ranks." In 1994, Old Dominion University and the Norfolk Public Schools embarked on a decade-long major school reform initiative (PRIME) aimed at providing students with exemplary college and career opportunities and…

A school's reengineering must first make sense to the leadership team before being sold to a skeptical faculty. The principalship's real power lies in persuasion. The Six "I" Framework, a model to help principals argue persuasively for change, is based on interdisciplinary instruction, integrated instructional targets and assessment practices,…

Many Vietnamese parents do not understand their right and responsibility to participate in decision-making processes affecting their children's education. This article discusses the information dissemination, logistical support, authentic dialogue, and parental empowerment techniques crucial to ensuring the Vietnamese community's active role in…