This book summarizes research on the various ways that students' cultural backgrounds and innate ways of learning affect academic achievement. It also offers descriptions and recommendations for improving science and mathematics education for minorities and women, based on successful programs, that take these differences into account. The focus is…

A study of how principals in effective schools set norms for teacher behavior, student achievement, and educational goals used data from six elementary schools in Tennessee that achieved scores on standardized reading tests substantially higher than scores predicted on the basis of the students' socioeconomic levels. Four primary norm-setting…

Effective schools are typically defined as those schools which improve or maintain already-established high levels of student achievement. A number of issues and research needs are raised which relate to the identification of effective schools. Unless the nature of "effectiveness" can be described and agreed upon, researchers face the possibility…

The findings of 13 studies of educational change, leadership, and decision-making are summarized in this report. Conducted by the staff of the Project on Administration and Organization for Instruction at the University of Wisconsin Center for Education Research, the studies utilized data gathered in over 100 middle, junior, and senior high…

Seven series of newspaper articles on effective elementary and secondary schools are presented. A brief foreword explains the theme of the articles--identifying what makes good schools work. The seven sets of articles include the following: (1) "Middle Schools: How They Change the Lives of Students in Montana," by Mea Andrews; (2) "How High…

This document presents the results of an evaluation of the usefulness to 14 participating schools of Connecticut's School Effectiveness Program, which focuses on the achievement performance of low-income students. The following are the evaluation's major findings, based on interviews, questionnaires, case studies, test data, and archival data: (1)…

Two studies of school climate were conducted at Detroit's Boulevard High School in 1984, three years after the institution of a school improvement program. One study measured students' perceptions, the other assessed staff perceptions. Based upon the findings of this research, it became clear that in order to get a good picture of the school…

A survey questionnaire asked adult (aged 18 or older) respondents to list, in order of importance, the five most important characteristics of their best and worst teachers in school; to answer the question: "What didn't school teach you?"; and to grade schools locally and nationally on a scale from A through F (A through D and F for Fail). A…

This monograph examines recommendations and conerns raised by recent reports of the National Commission on Excellence in Education and other ogranizations and considers the possible ramifications for middle school education. The monograph is organized into five sections. The first provides an overview of the following five studies: "Action…

In late 1982 Mississippi passed a massive school improvement program shaped around the effective schools concept as defined by Ron Edmonds. The characteristics of effective schools identified by Edmonds and made the cornerstone of the Mississippi legislation were that (1) the principal is a strong instructional leader; (2) the school has an…

To validate a proposed statistical index of instructional effectiveness, researchers identified 33 school characteristics related to instructional effectiveness and tested the relationship between these characteristics and the proposed index. The index includes two subject area indices, mathematics and reading, and is based on statistical…

Local education agency responses to student pregnancy and parenthood are constrained by narrow definitions of the problem, opposition to sex education, contraception, and abortion, disagreement about the appropriate school role, lack of expertise, and lack of incentives to develop programs. Nationwide field studies were conducted to assess 12…

Two lines of argument have been advanced to support the assertion that schooling makes little difference in the efforts of low status people to achieve equality or a fair chance at survival. One says that the genetic inferiority of certain races makes them incapable of benefitting from schooling. Although there is no hard biological evidence to…

Although some genuine problems and disadvantages exist in small schools, educators have begun to rediscover the inherent strengths and values in schools small enough to fit the human dimensions of the child and youth. In the early 1970's, the North Central Association (NCA) Commission on Schools was pressured for recognition of the small school's…

Since publication of the Coleman Report, the belief has become increasingly pervasive that formal education does not or cannot make a difference in what a student learns--that patterns of academic performance are immutably molded by social and economic conditions outside the school. The purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive review…