This paper describes a middle-level reform effort implemented at Redwood Middle School in Napa, California. The school has been identified as an exemplary middle school that effectively combines affective and cognitive experiences for its students. In this monograph, the principal describes how the school's teachers developed a culture that…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined the process of building staff commitment during the earliest phase of comprehensive school change, or "courtship" phase. Participant observation in a northwestern urban school district was conducted at three low-achieving elementary schools that implemented the accelerated schools model.…

This paper tests the degree of overlap between operational definitions of transformational and transactional leadership, the nature of the relationships between the constructs of transformational and transactional leadership, and specified outcomes in an empirically derived data set by the application of two forms of analysis. Based on Bass's…

Because the quality management (QM) movement can be very important in school improvement efforts, it is essential to determine how QM can fit with relatively new restructuring ideas and whether this approach is consistent with existing school structures and processes. This book presents an integrated approach to holistic quality management that…

Integrative education is defined as education that promotes learning and teaching in nonfragmented ways that embrace notions of holism, complexity, and interconnection. Furthermore, integrative education embraces the links, rather than the divisions, between the academic disciplines (e.g., arts and sciences) and between various subjective and…

This study investigated the mathematics achievement test performance of 62 non-transient elementary school learners in accelerated schools using a longitudinal design. Both the California Achievement Test (CAT) and the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) test were included in this investigation. In particular, this study sought to…

In 1989, Chicago (Illinois) Public Schools began an experiment with the radical decentralization of power and authority. This book tells the story of what happened in Chicago's elementary schools in the first four years of this reform. Implicit in the reform was the theory that expanded local democratic participation would stimulate organizational…

In the past 10 years many countries have implemented large-scale reforms of their public educational systems. The origins of reform programs in four countries--Canada, the United States, England, and New Zealand--are presented here. The text focuses on four aspects of reform: (1) the sources of reforms as initially proposed by governments, the…

This study examined the effects of budget reductions in the 1990s on public higher education systems in six major states. Finance officers at the campus, system, and state level in California, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, and Wisconsin were surveyed regarding budget reductions, approaches to reduction allocation, the impact of budget…

"Restructuring" is a term whose meaning varies according to which group is using it. National political leaders often use the term in reference to public school choice. At state and district levels, restructuring is often associated with pushing decision making authority to the local level. Leaders in teachers' unions call restructuring…

This research report evaluates a 2-year effort to achieve home-school partnerships and success for all children at two urban schools: P.S. 111 in New York City and the Ellis School in Boston. As conceptualized by the Institute for Responsive Education staff, the process of achieving success for all children required the transformation of school…

The Japanese success story has made W. Edwards Deming's Total Quality Management (TQM) theory increasingly popular among American managers, from car manufacturers to educational leaders. TQM is based on two tenets: the primacy of customer satisfaction and the necessity of tapping nontraditional sources (especially employee ideas) to institute…

Findings of a study that examined the role of teacher leadership in school restructuring are presented in this paper. The teacher restructuring project implemented at an elementary school in Brookline, Massachusetts, was based on team teaching, school-university collaboration, integrated remediation, and alternative teacher roles. Methodology…

Alaskans are increasingly dissatisfied with the performance of their schools. Many students are poorly educated, have low self-esteem, and suffer other social problems. The Alaskan Joint House-Senate Committee on School Performance was created to set priorities for ways to improve school performance. The committee was guided by three basic…

This document presents findings of a study that examined the extent to which middle-grade reforms in California actually affected the restructuring of middle-level education throughout the state. The California Middle Grades Task Force's report, "Caught in the Middle," led to the creation of the California Middle Grades Reform Model,…