This chapter suggests procedures and alternative practices for the improvement of big city education. The authors (1) urge the importance of planning, (2) describe procedures for identifying and selecting promising alternative practices, (3) discuss the involvement of people in urban education, (4) identify emerging learning environments, (5)…

The People In Everything (PIE) Program is an attempt to provide humanistic education by involving the total school population in teaching-learning environment improvement. Primarily an inservice program for K-8 teachers, staff and administrators, its objectives are seen as identifying human relations problems and developing the skills to solve…

Discusses the use of regimentation and depersonalization as socializing mechanisms at an inner city junior high school. Focuses on the routine encounters of newcomers and the way such encounters force students to redefine themselves according to institutional needs and practices. (PS)

A study of 74 female campers aged 10-13, primarily from middle to upper income families, determined if creativity of campers changed during a seven-week residential summer camp. Findings indicated camp environment and counselor abilities nurtured creativity. Ten ways camp directors can establish a camping environment to support creative growth…

Discusses the need to individualize instruction. Presents a model for such instruction based on learning efficiency. Outlines the model in terms of its impact on the learner, instructional materials and media, instructional methods, the teacher, and the teaching and learning environment. (TW)

Examined is the cultural impact--both actual and potential--of the computer on children's mathematical education. The ways in which the introduction of the computer does and will change the ambient space in which children learn mathematics is considered. (Author/PK)

Effective schools must have effective leaders. Such leaders are those who can create and implement a vision of the school's culture that contains within it the values on which excellence is built. (BJV)

Illustrates some of the various ways principals may shape and change their school cultures. These cultures are composed of the shared norms, values, beliefs, and assumptions about the world of work that shape how people think, feel, and act. (BJV)

Summarizes recent scholarship on superintendents and classroom learning. Concludes that central-office involvement is infrequent but probably necessary for widespread school improvement. Proposes guidelines for future research. (BJV)

Reviews literature examining research basis for school achievement of culturally and linguistically different learners from standpoint of instructional effectiveness and opportunity to learn. Concentrates on research directly assessing ecological/instructional processes in relationship to achievement outcome measures. Focuses on functional…

Brings together the literature of school-based evaluation, teacher appraisal, and effective schools and links those studies with the idea of the culture of the school. Analyzes curriculum needs in relation to eight cultural systems existing in every society: sociopolitical, economic, communication, rationality, technology, morality, belief, and…

Describes social climate dimensions characterizing work, school, and health care settings, emphasizing how personal factors vary influence on morale and performance. Discusses cross-situational linkages, focusing on educator work climate and student learning environment, and students' school and family interplay. Reviews influence of personal…

Investigated political behaviors in the teacher-principal relationship from the teachers' perspective using unstructured and semistructured interviews. Demonstrated that the political perspective of the teachers was based on sensitivity to the power of principals and the development of strategies to deal with power in protecting themselves from…

Discusses the research finding that the functional community base of Catholic schools is responsible for their effectiveness. Looks at the foundations of functional community (e.g., the religious nature of the schools and the commitment of their teachers). Considers parents' roles within this functional community. (DMM)

Assessed Indian children's perception of control in the cognitive, social, and physical domains of school functioning by using the multidimensional measure of children's perception of control. Data analyses indicated a significant developmental difference in children's perception of the source of control, and this varied with their success or…