A Georgia superintendent (and former teacher) angered board and community members by calling in federal authorities to help eliminate de facto segregation in two schools serving 1,200 students. At issue were a discriminatory track system and unintegrated cheerleading teams. Sidebars explain the U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights…

Discusses educational reform, highlighting the role of external forces, school philosophy and goals, school governance and decision making, school organization for teaching and learning, and consequences of change. References to the American Indian concept of "shape shifting" reflects skepticism about the level of commitment of key…

In educational reform, the nation appears to be pursuing two distinct and possibly incompatible strategies for change. One approach is based on the philosophy of "a Nation at Risk" and has resulted in a standards-driven educational agenda. Critics of this model advocate a bottom-up, more learner-centered approach. (SLD)

Reviews focus groups as a way of determining community opinions and explains how to use them. Designing a focus group series, conducting the group, and reporting the results are described, and examples are given of focus groups in educational change. (SLD)

Examines changes taking place in corporate training and their relevance to public school restructuring. Topics addressed include learner success, lesson relevance, instructional design, learning systems, cost-effective delivery systems, levels of measurement, the systems approach to education, management involvement, integrated performance support…

Presents a historical perspective on school restructuring, looking at New York City's unique reform; policy discourse and trends in practice; late nineteenth-century diversity; reorganization from 1900-50; challenging basic assumptions in the 1960s; back to basics in the 1980s; long-term structural trends in public schools; and education reform…

The concept of reengineering is examined as it applies to colleges and universities, with emphasis upon information technology units. Covered are the purposes, principles, and process of reengineering; organizational change; leadership; reengineering the information technology unit; and critical success factors for reengineering higher education.…

Instead of developing a new strategy for each reform wave, educators must learn how to foster continuous improvement. Reforms often fail because of faulty maps of change, complex problems, overreliance on symbols, superficial solutions, misunderstood resistance, attrition, and misuse of knowledge. Success means recognizing change as a systemic,…

Offers a response to the previous article, discussing school reforms and restructuring; educational technology; hyperlearning; and future learning environments. (Contains five references.) (LRW)

Describes school restructuring themes that may be promoted through staff development, including developing a purpose and shared vision, challenging traditional norms of schooling, creating a collaborative school culture, establishing new roles in school governance, and encouraging reflective practice and critical inquiry. Addresses the role of…

A New York State school district opted to use total quality management techniques to improve the district's performance and gain public support. After defining four key measures and establishing standards of excellence for each, the district concerned itself with the first measure, proposing an affordable tax rate increase. The proposed budget was…

Describes the composition and operation of the New American Schools Development Corporation (NASDC). The NASDC will design new high-performance learning environments for U.S. children. The seven design teams are to unveil new high-performance schools after two to three years, presumably by marketing designs. (SLD)

Discusses the need for new organizational designs in schools that are restructuring with emphasis on the role technology can play. Topics discussed include improving communication; redundancy skills that educators need; learning to learn; using technology to support variety and diversity; barriers to using technology in restructuring schools; and…

Organizational change will be a major theme of the school reform movement. Despite restructuring efforts, schools are still operated on the factory system model. Using the social norms concept, this paper examines schools as informal organizations and advocates staff development as an essential key for changing informal relationships (roles)…

Discusses difficulties in designing a curriculum for Soviet schools that will allow students to master subjects and develop their individual personalities. Describes specific problems in designing secondary research: formulation of specific teaching/learning goals, integration of content, and reflection of the tasks of upbringing. Maps out…