Significant curricular change extends into most other facets of schooling, including teaching, learning, and the school culture. This document reports findings of the Curriculum Reform Project, which conducted case studies of educational reforms in nine middle and senior high schools across the United States; prepared a cross-site analysis of the…

Education reform is an ongoing process that requires a major commitment over a long period of time. This volume, the second in a series of three, presents case-study findings of a 4-year research project on curriculum reform, with a focus on science education, mathematics education, and higher order thinking across the disciplines. The study, the…

Genuine educational reform depends on developing relationships with the home, community groups, politicians, and the business community (Seeley, 1981). This volume is the first of three volumes that are products of a 3.5 year study of education reform, with a focus on the role of parent, family, and community involvement in the middle grades. The…

This document presents the Educational Excellence Network's third annual report card on the progress of education reform in the United States. Despite much activity, the report assigns reform efforts for 1995-96 the overall grade of C, which is the same grade given for the previous year. Part 1 presents data on academic achievement in American…

As more and more people conclude that existing schools are not doing a very good job, the national movement toward school reform gains momentum. The new school requires a new principal, one who behaves and leads differently than administrators in the past. The new principal, regardless of the school's grade level, has a tight grip on the realities…

This report contains findings of a study conducted by the Little Hoover Commission, which investigated ways to support and expand opportunities for charter schools in California. Over 100 charter schools were in operation in California as of March 1996. Data were based on visits to 26 charter schools in the state. The report concludes that: (1)…

In Ohio, Venture Capital grants are available to schools to support their school-improvement efforts. This paper presents findings of a study that examined building principals' openness to change in the 307 Ohio schools with Venture Capital Grants. The 307 principals received by mail the Inventory of Change in Organizational Culture (Dunham and…

Educational reformers have come to recognize that establishing more challenging standards and assessments is not enough to raise student achievement. This brief identifies five challenges that confront educators and policymakers as they develop higher standards and other policies and structures to support improved student and teacher learning. It…

This feature issue on inclusion and school restructuring for students with and without disabilities contains the following articles: (1) "The 7 Habits for Educators" (Terri Vandercook); (2) "The Evolution of Inclusive Education" (Jennifer York-Barr and Terri Vandercook); (3) "Creating Inclusive Schools: What Does the…

This paper analyzes an institutional change in a large, Turkish public university, the Middle East Technical University (METU), by using an anomaly-based organizational change model. The model explains change as an organizational response to anomalies caused by internal and external organizational conditions. The study used a qualitative case…

After over 20 years with the same senior administration, Floyd College, a two-year college connected to the University of Georgia, underwent a change of leadership. As a result, the college climate, as well as its organizational procedures, have radically changed. In the past, decisions on promotion and tenure started from top management. Now,…

This paper focuses on how teachers in a rural elementary school, involved in the fourth year of a restructuring process (the Accelerated Schools Project), used inquiry to transform teaching and learning. In the past, teachers generally worked within their own classrooms and had little input in school wide operations. However, after four years of…

This report describes what schools and educators across Kentucky are doing to implement school reform in school-based decision-making based on the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA). The School-Based Decision Making (SBDM) component of KERA is a decentralized governance structure that vests great authority in SBDM councils operating at…

Education reform solutions often ignore the people involved and concentrate solely on the systems in which they work. This paper presents an overview of invitational education theory and Total Quality Management (TQM) theory and describes their uses for improving education. Both theories are holistic approaches; stress the cooperative nature of…

The decade 1980-90 saw a spate of educational reconstruction occurring simultaneously in many countries. This book argues that the school restructuring of the past 10 years has been called the "education-reform movement," but that term is somewhat misleading. The current reform efforts seem to aim primarily at the control and governance of both…