These proceedings of a conference on corporate programs that support urban educational reform include 11 papers that focus on the importance of education and academic achievement to the business community, and the need for a national political agenda to promote urban school reform. The following presentations describe existing enrichment programs…

The schools attended by young adolescents must be transformed into "communities for learning" that provide students with a climate fostering their intellectual development. Such communities have high expectations for students, challenge them with an integrated curriculum, offer meaningful relationships with adults, and maintain an…

The American educational system faces a critical need for restructuring. Social lag problems created by the transformation from an industrial to an informational society have affected U.S. institutions, especially education. Educators and policymakers must respond to the new economic, demographic, organizational, and educational forces which have…

This report outlines a comprehensive series of recommendations for federal policies and programs related to high schools to improve the quality of high school education and academic achievement for all students. It is based on National Association of Secondary School Principals' (NASSP's) publication entitled "Breaking Ranks II: Strategies for…

A number of forces have increased the momentum for school districts to develop district-wide reform strategies as a means of initiating and sustaining school improvement. First, districts have sometimes found it easier to manage and support a single districtwide initiative rather than many different school reform models. Second, they have come to…

This study investigated the effect of probation on individual performance motivation, organizational processes, and patterns of instruction in schools that were on probation for low achievement in Maryland and Kentucky. Findings are based on case studies of 11 schools on probation, 7 in Maryland and 4 in Kentucky, and all 11 schools had high…

SouthEastern Regional Vision for Education (SERVE) is one of the federally funded regional educational laboratories. This annual publication captures and shares the experiences of SERVE school districts that have volunteered to share their efforts at assessment reform. This issue contains the following articles: (1) "Classroom Assessment: A…

Eastlake High School, a high school in a district in the Seattle (Washington) suburbs, opened a new campus in 1993. The school agreed to work with the Washington Research Institute to examine reform efforts in the developing school. The focus was on ensuring that the needs of special education students were being met as the school unfolded its…

An ethnographic study of teacher teaming was conducted at an urban high school, exploring the effects the teaming process had on teachers' and students' experiences. Heritage High School was a relatively large urban school in the Midwest, employing over 100 teachers and serving over 1,200 students. The school has a graduation rate of only about…

Few of the current major efforts to improve urban schools adequately appreciate the extent to which the problematic social climate of urban schools can undermine the implementation of even very good ideas. As a result, programs often come and go with little lasting impact. This paper uses ethnographic fieldwork to illustrate the ways dysfunctional…

Thomas Elementary School serves a poor, predominantly Latino neighborhood in Chicago (Illinois). This paper reviews some of the developments within each of the school's three sites of power--parents, the principal, and the faculty--and considers the important role of social capital in this immigrant community. Data were obtained through…

One of the most widespread restructuring reforms involves decentralizing decision making to schools and sharing decision making with a variety of groups. This paper presents findings of a study that examined the organizational conditions in schools using School-Based Decision Making (SBDM) where there is higher quality instruction and greater…

All too often, rhetoric has become the guide for change, rather than philosophical assumptions and value systems. This paper presents three organizational constructs to assist schools in successfully transforming their work cultures into learning organizations. The three components include systems thinking and quality concepts, social…

The United Kingdom (UK) system of public education and training has been fundamentally reformed over the last 15 years. The improvements were designed to raise the quality of the system through increased autonomy for schools, colleges, and universities; a strengthened framework of accountability; enhanced parental and student choice; a more…

The School-Based Management Project was designed to determine how School-Based Management (SBM), when combined with curriculum and instruction reform, could work to improve the performance of schools. This report presents findings of a study that examined American, Canadian, and Australian schools that exhibited a range of success in restructuring…