The internal structure and correlates of the South Carolina State Department of Education's Needs Assessment Instruments (NAIs) for teachers, parents, and students were examined for 61, 61, and 36 schools, respectively. The NAIs are questionnaires that assess six indicators of school effectiveness: (1) instructional leadership of the principal;…

This document describes the exploration and application of effective schools research resulting from university/public schools cooperation in the Springfield (Massachusetts) Public School System. The Academy for Excellence operated as a partnership between the University of Massachusetts School of Education and the Springfield Public School System…

This paper reports some of the results of an evaluation of Project OCEAN (Oceanic Classroom Education and Networking), a teacher training and curriculum reform project. The paper focuses on results that suggest that Project OCEAN was able to stimulate important collegial behaviors among teachers in all participating schools, and attempts to…

Intended to help principals with the design and implementation of reading instruction in their schools, the recommendations presented in this booklet are drawn directly from the findings discussed in "Becoming a Nation of Readers" in 1984. The conclusions of the Commission on Reading are described in ways that every principal can act upon. Taking…

This report is the second part of a study which sought to determine whether there is a set of in-school factors which might help explain the differences in dropout rates among schools with very similar student bodies. The study was designed as an in-depth ethnographic examination of four pairs of Chicago (Illinois) public high schools. One school…

School climate is an elusive but powerful concept that has captured the attention of both researchers and practitioners, but choosing an instrument to assess climate can be very complicated. This monograph accordingly discusses four basic issues that should be considered prior to selecting an instrument to measure school climate: purpose, choice…

This survey is designed to be an assessment instrument for measuring a school's effectiveness in meeting the needs of at-risk and low achieving students. The survey consists of nine sections. Statements listed in each section are used to characterize specific behaviors with a scale rating for how each statement reflects the situation or attitude…

The Soviet government has consistently relied upon the country's educational system, including adult education, to advance its ideological, social, and economic goals. In the Soviet Union, education has been used to promote Soviet identity, minimize the impact of religion, advance the status of women, and help increase worker productivity. Adult…

Reprints of four articles from the journal "Phi Delta Kappan" provide discussions of initial findings from "A Study of Schooling," a study of contextual variables in 38 elementary, junior high/middle, and high schools. The project had two purposes: (1) to formulate hypotheses and provide insights about schooling through indepth…

Grades awarded to secondary school students in the Cleveland (Ohio) public schools were analyzed to determine relationships between grades and selected school climate variables in a desegregated urban school district. Failures or F grades and schoolwide non-promotion rates were both related to rates of class attendance and school suspensions. Over…

A study investigated the relationships between selected student characteristics and measures of perceived campus and Vocational Resource Educator (VRE) support service satisfaction by postsecondary handicapped populations in three Missouri community colleges. Characteristics included length of stay in school, academic achievement, handicapping…

Defining stress as a "misfit" between individual needs and environmental attributes, this paper reviews research on areas where the designed environment, on both a schoolwide and a classroom level, interacts with the educational process. These interactions are considered from the perspective of stresses imposed on both teachers and students. The…

The use of time in school, specifically the portion of time defined as active responding time, has been shown to correlate significantly with achievement. The comprehensive observational methodology of the academic engaged time studies provides the basis for systematically investigating student responding time and elements of the educational…

Guidelines for arranging environments appropriate for preschool-age children are provided in this staff development module, one of a series for child caregivers working in military day care centers. The document is divided into two parts. In part 1, discussion focuses on how environments affect children's feelings and behavior and on ways to…

Learning style studies that describe students' individual learning differences and studies on types of schooling which best match students' cognitive styles are examined. Three approaches to the subject are discussed: (1) global personality perspectives, which look at several general traits; (2) cognitive mapping with minute analysis of many…