Questions about effects of consolidation on Iowa's small schools can be answered through historical review and current assessment of nine small districts. By 1966, Iowa's 1912 School Consolidation Law and subsequent legislation had reduced 4,500 taxing units to 455, with each district offering K-12 programs to a total enrollment of at least 300…

The educational change strategy termed "reaching success through involvement" (RSI) has yielded promising results in creating school effectiveness. This paper analyzes the theoretical bases and practical applications of RSI strategy among 14 schools over an 8-year period. RSI theory assumes that educational organizations are dynamic social systems…

This document outlines an overall plan of action for improving school effectiveness in the Spencerport (New York) school system. This master plan (developed by a leadership planning team consisting of key personnel in the Spencerport system, in cooperation with the Institute of Research on Teaching, College of Education, Michigan State University)…

The Saginaw Successful Schools Project (S3P) was described and evaluated using data collected from 1980 to 1985. S3P is a school improvement project based on instructional and school effectiveness research findings; but the starting point for change is determined by staff in each of the 31 school buildings. The School Improvement Survey (SIS) was…

The text provides information to secondary school principals to assist them in designing and maintaining effective educational programs for severely handicapped high school students, including those who are labeled moderately or severely retarded, multiply handicapped, or autistic. A model of effective program characteristics is followed by a…

Application of the Achievement Formula to three school districts in northeastern Ohio is described. The formula--developed in association with the Effective Schools/Teacher Effectiveness Research Program--is a paradigm for district self-study, whereby elementary and secondary schools analyze student achievement data. Data are displayed on a…

This report describes various components of the process of disaggregating student achievement data and provides examples of each component. Information is provided to allow school districts to conduct their own school effectiveness evaluation. Results of the California Achievement Tests form one of the bases of the analysis. The underlying…

This report is based on data from the 1979, 1980 and 1981 waves of the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth Labor Market Experience. These data were collected for a nationally representative sample of 12,686 youth in 1979, 12,141 in 1980 and 12,195 in 1981. This report contains four analytical chapters. Chapter One investigates those…

Collaborative research can contribute to teachers' personal growth and professional development as well as to the coordination of instructional approaches and goals throughout the school. Collaborative research in teaching can be defined as research conducted inside the classroom by two or more individuals with different role orientations and…

The purpose of this study was to determine what Ontario high schools might do in order to increase student retention. Four approaches were taken. The first focuses on the social ecology of high schools, looking at how they relate to their environment. The second focuses on organizational characteristics that others have reported are associated…

Although the nation is spending more on its public schools than ever before, American students score poorly on standardized tests in comparison to other countries. Rising spending has had little effect on educational results because of a dramatic decline in labor productivity in public schools. Research on class size indicates that efficient class…

This report disseminates the results of a two-year pilot study in three small rural Ohio school districts of an achievement formula that applies the correlates of effective schools research and recommendations of the "excellence" reports to predict, monitor, and enhance student achievement. Using regression formulas, the researchers…

A study was conducted by the Washington State Board for Community College Education to determine how effectively the state's community colleges perform the transfer function. In spring 1988, students who were about to complete their first bachelor's degree were surveyed to identify those who had not transferred (native students), four-year college…

An inventory was made of reliable characteristics of effective schools within and across contexts, including a comparison of results of effective-schools research from different nations. A five-factor model of school effectiveness is discussed, which gives the following characteristics: (1) academic goal consensus; (2) safe and orderly climate;…

Although effective schools research has indicated the need for an added emphasis on increasing student achievement within a satisfying learning climate, the issue of how best to implement this research has been perplexing for both researchers and practitioners. Different approaches are being tried in two rural Saskatchewan school divisions. In…