This article examines the recommendations in ACTE's high school reform position statement and highlights best practices for implementing each of the recommendations. In this article, the author discusses the third recommendation which is to create a positive school culture that stresses personalization in relationships. Furthermore, she states…

Since the 1970s, both authors have been involved in the school reform movement, sharing a passion for improving public education, particularly urban public education. Their experiences as teacher and professor in an urban magnet laboratory school reinforced their belief in the ability of all children to learn. They state that, within the magnet…

This article is a descriptive account of a professional learning community established among university professors, university teacher candidates, a school district instructional supervisor, the high school principal, a high school literacy coordinator, and teachers of a Mid-Atlantic high school in the United States. This learning community…

The study will trace the external factors influencing the liberalization, deregulation and privatization of higher education in Malaysia from 1970 to the present and to analyze the effects of liberalization, deregulation and privatization on the modes of privatization and the internal restructuring of institutions of higher learning to increase…

This book provides practical information about the complexity of school change, with an emphasis on the role of time and its impact, along with other variables, on the change process. The other interacting variables in school change include vision, history, leadership and power, the use of support and pressure, capacity building, consensual…

The Education Commission of the States presents an urban education policy framework that is guided by the firm conclusion that state and city leaders must develop a collaborative approach to improve the state and urban education system. Toward this end, the following recommendations are made: (1) raise the state's academic standards; (2) free up…

This paper presents findings of a study that explored the changing roles of principals and other school leaders in Israel as the system moves toward autonomous school organization. Specifically, the study examined the extent to which principals employed supervisory behaviors, teacher-activating behaviors, and school-restructuring initiatives. Data…

This paper presents a history of restructuring efforts undertaken since 1991 at one high school located in a predominantly white suburban community. Data were gathered through document analysis, interviews, and a faculty survey (to which 35 out of 63 teachers responded). Since the late 1980s, the school's student population declined and became…

In October 1994 the President signed into law the "Improving America's Schools Act." Title I, the largest primary and secondary federal education program was reauthorized by this legislation, which, among other things rewrote the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The reauthorized law provides parents, advocates, and school…

Most plans for school reform depend on agencies of the federal government, states, and districts for codifying, assessing, and communicating standards. This paper outlines the appropriate responsibilities and associated language for the major educational agencies involved in standards and assessment. It proposes that educational assessment should…

Since 1992, the New American Schools Development Corporation (NASDC) has supported nine teams that developed designs for high-performance schools. This workbook is a guide developed for NASDC and for school-based reformers. It presents a framework for student and program evaluation called progress assessment. Chapters 2 through 5 provide…

The role of theory in the restructuring of schools and curriculum is discussed. Theory is defined as a set of assumptions from which laws or principles may be derived. The descriptive, analytical, and predictive characteristics of theory are described. The examination of the relationship of theory to practice leads to the conclusion that they are…

This paper argues that a useful way of analyzing the current moves to locate education within a decentralized framework of schools competing for educational consumers is to return to the founders of managerialism. In particular, this paper suggests that by returning to the point of production, the "mutilated rationality" (Habermas) of…

This handbook was designed to help school administrators, teachers, and community members make a successful transition from a junior high school to a middle school. The focus is on the process rather than content. Chapter 1 provides an example of how one junior high school faculty and administration made the shift to a middle school. Chapter 2…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined the efforts of one Dade County, Florida, high school to use site-based management/shared decision making (SBM/SDM) over a 7-year period. The study examined participants' beliefs about the distribution of authority, the nature of work, and conceptions of learning and compared those beliefs with…