A New York State school district opted to use total quality management techniques to improve the district's performance and gain public support. After defining four key measures and establishing standards of excellence for each, the district concerned itself with the first measure, proposing an affordable tax rate increase. The proposed budget was…

Describes the composition and operation of the New American Schools Development Corporation (NASDC). The NASDC will design new high-performance learning environments for U.S. children. The seven design teams are to unveil new high-performance schools after two to three years, presumably by marketing designs. (SLD)

Discusses the need for new organizational designs in schools that are restructuring with emphasis on the role technology can play. Topics discussed include improving communication; redundancy skills that educators need; learning to learn; using technology to support variety and diversity; barriers to using technology in restructuring schools; and…

Organizational change will be a major theme of the school reform movement. Despite restructuring efforts, schools are still operated on the factory system model. Using the social norms concept, this paper examines schools as informal organizations and advocates staff development as an essential key for changing informal relationships (roles)…

Discusses difficulties in designing a curriculum for Soviet schools that will allow students to master subjects and develop their individual personalities. Describes specific problems in designing secondary research: formulation of specific teaching/learning goals, integration of content, and reflection of the tasks of upbringing. Maps out…

Discusses school-based management, explaining what PTAs need to be prepared for discussions about restructuring through school-based management. The article discusses origin of governance, school-based management councils, decision making, and parent-community involvement. (SM)

The current crisis of U.S. public education cannot be addressed through reforms to the existing paradigm. In fact, the current paradigm is being challenged and shifted bringing in a new perception of the educational process. Because of resistance in the education profession, that change may be variously applied. (JB)

Describes a principal's efforts to help staff restructure an Arizona junior high school's entire curriculum while struggling to achieve a successful transition to middle school status. The most traumatic change for staff involved a radical scheduling change from one-hour classes to two-hour time blocks with alternating subjects from quarter to…

Two small school districts (one K-12, the other 9-12) reorganized their high school programs so they operate as a single entity and without closing either site. One site serves as an English and humanities center, the other as a mathematics and science center. Collaboration has improved the academic program and cut expenses. (MLF)

Describes one district's struggle to implement Maine's Common Core of Learning, model of education that blurred subject area lines and moved toward integrated framework for curriculum and instruction. Common Core presented a set of outcomes divided into four interdisciplinary categories: human record, reasoning and problem solving, communication,…

Educators at a Connecticut middle school are creating programs to help students develop more positive self-images within a safe, supportive learning environment. Schoolwide restructuring efforts led to teams of professionals concerned with school learning climate, team teaching, monitoring of pupil progress, staff development, at-risk students,…

Discusses 10 major school change strategies engaging the author's energy, beginning with training in group dynamics in the 1950s through today's emphasis on school restructuring. Other strategies included innovation diffusion and transfer, organizational self-renewal, knowledge transfer, creation of new schools, supported implementation, local…

Draws parallels between the educational reform movement of the Coalition of Essential Schools and revitalization movements, using the revitalization framework as a process model to clarify issues and tensions of school change efforts. The importance of simultaneous documentation and alternative change models is emphasized. (SLD)

Examines the principal's role in school restructuring using essential school precepts. Based on qualitative data from a 2.5-year longitudinal study, results indicate that principals must assume a more inclusive, prominent role in restructuring efforts. The Coalition of Essential Schools' metaphor "student as worker, teacher as coach"…

Through development of new mission statement and work of cross-disciplinary committees, Ohio high school adopted Coalition of Essential Schools principles while fashioning interdisciplinary Global Connections program. Aim was to maintain academic integrity and empower tenth graders to take an active role in shaping their world. Instructional goals…