This booklet describes the characteristics of 16 Chicago-area schools designated as winners in a 1982-83 contest to develop student character and academic learning. Out of the 80 schools competing, the 25 finalists were reviewed for evidence of school effectiveness and outcomes. Schools were asked to assess students' prosocial activities and the…

This annotated bibliography was compiled to help educators understand organizational change in schools. The purpose is to provide ideas that will help avoid wasted effort and reduce heartbreak in the application of change processes. This third edition omits at least one-third of the entries from the second edition. Items dropped are those…

This study focused on process measures to identify the major components of elementary school climate and to test the effectiveness of an intervention emphasizing the work of the principal. Nine schools of diverse size and in several locations in British Columbia formed the sample. Data included surveys of parents and teachers, interviews of…

The Picture Learning Style Inventory was administered to 42 first graders and 46 second graders attending two public schools in a Southern university community. The inventory consists of 13 individual picture booklets, each illustrating a different element of learning style (environmental, emotional, sociological, and physical). The inventory is…

This book examines educators' norms, beliefs, and values in case studies of three "improving" high schools. The distinction between "sacred" and "profane" norms in the teaching profession is applied to the relationships among school culture, improvement efforts, and the effectiveness of change strategies. Schools'…

The first phase of a study of the effectiveness of mainstreaming of children with disabilities in the schools of New South Wales, Australia, is reported. This portion of the study involved intensive observations of small numbers of children (N=43) in all disability groups (mental, physical, sensory, emotional/behavioral, and language disabilities)…

Chapter 8 of a revised volume on school leadership, this chapter defines school climate and suggests ways to improve the learning environment at the school building level. School climate is defined as the feeling an individual gets from experiences within a school system. More specifically, climate is the composite of norms, expectations, and…

Students in the Portland (Oregon) Public Schools' Education Consolidation Improvement Act Chapter 1 program made greater achievement gains while in the program than when they were not, and those gains are probably attributable to the extent that Chapter 1 students engage in positive behaviors rather than to the curricular quality of the programs.…

Examined in this paper are the effects of school characteristics on both the probability of dropping out and absenteeism as the strongest predictor of dropping out. The project employed a subsample from the High School and Beyond database that contains results from questionnaires and achievement tests given in 1980 to approximately 30,000…

This pamphlet reviews five recent research studies that focus on various key aspects of school climate, a popular metaphor that is difficult to define, measure, or manipulate. "The Search for School Climate: A Review of the Research," by Carolyn Anderson, surveys the full scope of school climate literature, concluding with a summary of…

This examination of the reproduction of cultural norms focuses on ways in which the hidden curriculum facilitates cultural reproduction. The conceptual framework outlined in this paper emerged from a five-month observation study of a tenth-grade social studies class located in a predominantly working-class school. During the on-going data…

The manual is intended for inservice training of parents and professional teams in reviewing and rating, from a parent perspective, the existing quality of special education programs for handicapped students. Each team consists of three parents and one educator who receive training in the application of quality indicators previously developed by…

One type of adaptation made by each student teacher is the development of attitudes toward controlling pupils. The student teachers' attitudes toward pupil control may be at odds with those of other educators and this difference in attitude, particularly in the case of the cooperating teacher, can cause stress. Attitudes toward pupil control can…

Two brief papers, outlines, worksheets, and surveys for creating a democratic school environment and furthering citizenship education in grades K-12 are presented. The first paper emphasizes the need for and the role of citizenship education in the school. The second paper discusses the influence of the formal, hidden, and societal curricula on…

This paper summarizes research findings which suggest that 6 to 11 year olds may be more vulnerable to environmental crises than younger or older youths. A survey of Moroccan immigrants in Israel and France found that those aged 6-ll at the time of immigration had a smaller percentage admitted to college than those aged 0-5 and 12 and over when…