Unlike many proposed educational reforms in the United States, charter schools enjoy support from policymakers across the political spectrum, making such schools a major focus of public school reform among educators and legislators. The origin of charter schools and how these schools are affecting education is the subject of this background paper.…

In 1989, the Nevada Legislature enacted the Class-Size Reduction (CSR) Act. The measure was designed to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio in the public schools, particularly in the earliest grades. The program was scheduled to proceed in several phases. The first step reduced the student-teacher ratio in selected kindergartens and first grade classes…

This Digest examines the key issues surrounding the implementation of schoolwide reform. It discusses how whole-school reform results can be dramatic but that schools must take special care with implementing the reforms. It examines the importance of outside assistance in reform efforts and reports that design teams are typically used by schools…

This report examines the impact of three restructuring strategies--interdisciplinary teaming, school-within-a-school organization, and flexible scheduling---on professional interactions between teachers. The ways in which collegiality and collaboration have been addressed in the education literature are discussed, and how collaboration is…

This paper reports on the Leadership for Organisational Learning and Student Outcomes (LOLSO) Project, a new program that addresses the need to extend understanding of school restructuring initiatives in Australia. The project aims to change school practices by enhancing student learning. The LOLSO Project addresses six specific research…

The passage of the Chicago (Illinois) School Reform Act introduced a model of schools called the production model. This model defines the structures of the school by its inputs, throughputs (or production process), and outputs. The production model produces quantitative reports describing the fiscal condition and the quality of output, thus…

This book is part of a series of case studies that demonstrate better ways to educate Ohio's students. The case study is part of the Transforming Learning Communities (TLC) Project, designed to support significant school-reform efforts among Ohio's elementary, middle, and high schools. This report describes the implementation of an innovative…

Everybody knows what happened to educational reform in the Los Angeles Unified School District. As former mayor Richard Riordan once told the author, "That's simple; LEARN failed." Indeed, the Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Reform Now, which in the 1990s created a massive civic reform coalition, fell far short of building a…

In September 2002, 17 New Century high schools opened their doors to students as part of an ambitious, citywide initiative to make the high school experience relevant, engaging, and productive for New York City youth. Deliberately sited in Department of Education-designated low-performing high schools, these schools enroll students who are often…

Examines differences and similarities in role conception between principals participating in a state-sponsored restructuring program (the Centennial School Program) and nonparticipating principals. Findings from a statewide survey of administrators show that CSP principals generally report practices and attitudes congruent with program elements.…

Two of the books reviewed, "Horace's Hope: What Works for the American High School" and "The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School," discuss the future of educational reform. "Kinderculture," suggests that today's children are living with a fundamentally new reality in which corporations are the primary educators of the young. (SLD)

Surveyed leaders, staff and parents over a three-year period to determine effect of organizational changes on pedagogical content in Swedish preschools. Found that changes in organizational frame and available resources raised the importance of official goals and caused the school's main function to be seen as providing service, elaborating…

What urban middle school principals engaged in school reform felt they needed to know and the strategies that maximize their learning were studied with 23 principals involved in extended professional development. Principals valued the components of staff development that have been supported by the National Staff Development Council. (SLD)

Drawing lessons from the rise and fall of Philadelphia's reform efforts offers the benefit of hindsight to other cities. The engagement of stakeholders from different sectors of the community is crucial to the success of a reform. (Contains 18 references.) (Author/MLF)

The Memphis Restructuring Initiative's first-year data-gathering efforts have yielded implications for policy and practice. This article discusses findings and implications in seven areas: opportunity to choose, goals and directions, professional development, "constructivist" teaching and learning, authentic assessment, disjunctures…