Identifies the main problems of educational reform in postcommunist countries by using an interactive model of education and developmental dimensions of society. Suggests that the stalemate in the transformation of ownership and political modernization and ideological conservativism will impede the Europeanization of education in Eastern European…

Discusses issues for community college administrators related to Total Quality Management (TQM), transformational quality, and college leadership. Highlight's the author's application of TQM and college leadership literature. Describes initiatives developed at Illinois' Parkland College to provide better service to Parkland's community. (MAB)

Describes an assistant superintendent's experience in developing and implementing similar school reform plans in two high school settings. The less affluent but more successful school tied its restructuring plans to Coalition of Essential Schools principles. The key elements for success were energy, vision, and faculty and community commitment.…

The Goals 2000 Act creates a framework for establishing high academic and skill standards. Offers ideas and suggestions for creating a community or school strategy to reach the National Education Goals. Lists key questions that require answers and ways that central office staff members can provide assistance to the local school site. (MLF)

Describes a program in California that funded school restructuring efforts. Highlights include creating a learning community; the role of principals; authentic accountability; quality indicators, including examples of hard logic and fuzzy logic; The Protocol, a total quality management (TQM) feedback tool; and how collaboration and TQM helped…

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…