This paper explores the difficulties of extending good, workable educational ideas to entire schools or districts. Two restructured schools that participated in a 4-year collaborative project that involved multi-age primary classrooms, inclusion of special-needs students in regular classrooms, and increasing specificity in assessing student…

This report describes specific reform practices schools are implementing to realize the vision set forth in the National Association of Secondary School Principals document, "Breaking Ranks," which calls for changes in curriculum, instruction, assessment, school organization, professional development, community partnerships, and…

Educational issues of concern to southwestern state legislatures are reviewed in this educational policy bulletin. Information from a survey of legislative education committee members and legislative aides in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas is used to develop profiles of each state's unique educational concerns and political…

Reform in elementary education in Iceland during the last 25 years is discussed in the context of the conceptual framework developed by Pierre Bourdieu. The reform that started in the 1960's provides an opportunity to examine the usefulness of Bourdieu's concepts of legitimating principles that are historically and socially constructed and social…

Common-sense proposals for restructuring schools neglect two major issues: What content is needed to give direction to structural innovation? and How can the many factors that influence this content be linked? A discussion of the social context of U.S. education demonstrates the ways in which content and linkage problems are complicated. An agenda…

Findings of a study that explored the extent of knowledge and use of school-based management concepts by faculty, graduate students, and school administrators are presented in this paper. Nationwide data were obtained from surveys that were returned by 63 professors of educational administration, 82 principals, and 216 graduate students in…

Schools are currently being asked to serve as a catalyst for change with respect to problems confronting children and families in the United States. A problem solving approach has been articulated in the national educational goals set forth in the America 2000 program, involving schools in a restructuring movement which calls for school personnel…

Findings of a study that examined patterns in coalition-building for school restructuring are presented in this paper, which focuses on the adoption and early implementation stages of educational change. A case study analysis of two high schools and one district involved in school restructuring was undertaken through site observation and…

The Chicago School Reform Act mandated that schools develop and implement their own school improvement plans (SIPs) to meet systemwide goals and expected outcomes. This paper examines the implementation of SIP initiatives in 14 Chicago public schools. Data were derived from interviews with principals and advisory committee chairpersons and from…

Findings of a study that examined teaching culture patterns in two Ontario secondary schools are presented in this paper, with attention given to the outcomes of "balkanization." In this form of the teachers' organizational culture, teachers work in smaller subgroups within the school community. The two schools were drawn from a study of…

Issues in the national school choice debate are examined in this paper. Proponents of school choice have included the last two Republican Presidents, the Education Commission of the States, and many state governors and business community leaders. Gallup polls conducted during 1989-91 indicate that school choice (among public schools) is a popular…

This book lays the groundwork for rethinking school finance in the context of new educational policy directions for the 1990s. Proposed educational reforms have created several school finance issues: (1) the linkage between the basic school finance structure, educational goals, and the cost of effective schoolwide strategies; (2) site-based…

Information about 299 schools working with the school-based management process "Onward to Excellence" (OTE) is provided in this directory. Each school entry includes a contact person and information about OTE status, school demography, and progress toward school goals and activities. A total of 176 elementary, 48 middle/junior high, 51 high, and…

Findings of a study that examined teachers' and principals' perceptions of organizational changes affecting their professional work as a result of restructuring are presented in this paper. The multiple case study of two elementary, two middle, and two high schools derived data from interviews with each principal and from questionnaires…

Practical information for businesspeople in support of fundamental, collaborative educational change is presented in this report. The first section points out that fundamental educational restructuring is necessary in a changing society with different needs and that school business partnerships are required to implement systemic change. The…