"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) How's the Water?: Congressional Hearing on High School Reform Recognizes the Crisis, but Urges Caution Before…

This complete resource provides staff developers with the necessary tools for training leaders at all levels of the educational system to become the catalysts for large scale, sustainable reform. Hear from practicing principals, superintendents, and educational experts; observe actual training sessions; and visit classrooms to see how the model to…

The first in a series of three books on P-16 systems of education, P-16: The Last Education Reform chronicles the establishment of Ohio's first regional P-16 Compact and how one community began the process of large scale systemic education reform not just for K-12 education, but for its entire education system--preschool through college and…

American high schools are increasingly the target of educational reform. Today's high schools are expected to graduate all students with the rigorous academic knowledge and skills necessary to prepare them for college or a career. This report provides a comprehensive look at high school reform based on research and professional literature. It…

This booklet addresses three questions about small schools, commonly posed by skeptics: "What do we really know about small schools?" What is there to recommend them?" and "Can we explain their track record?" With regard to the first question, large-scale studies compared the records of 300 students in 8 small New York…

This publication reviews works on educational reform that represent attempts to do more than merely respond in knee-jerk fashion to political pressure for reform. Bruce Joyce and Emily Calhoun, in "Learning Experiences in School Renewal: An Exploration of Five Successful Programs" (Eugene, Oregon: ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational…

In early 1996, the Atlanta school board approved a plan to reconstitute Walden Middle School, opening it to students across the city and substantially changing the composition of the faculty. This report for 1996-97 recounts the first year of the reform effort, during which all positions were declared vacant and a new staff and faculty were…

The Ninth Grade Restructuring Program of the Detroit (Michigan) public schools was designed to restructure the ninth grade in ways that improve academic performance, develop positive attitudes toward learning, improve the school environment, reduce the dropout rate, and increase the graduation rate of students. Features of the program were…

The Ninth Grade Restructuring Program of the Detroit (Michigan) public schools was designed to restructure the ninth grade in ways that improve academic performance, develop positive attitudes toward learning, improve the school environment, reduce the dropout rate, and increase the graduation rate of students. Features of the program were…

The six stages of the concerns-based adoption model (CBAM) (G. Hall, R. Wallace, and W. Dossett, 1973) are the context for examining how one school sought to implement an inclusive vision of diversity within a gifted school program. The CBAM model informed the leadership style of the principal, but was not actually articulated as the model that…

Despite the world of rapid change, many have argued that, compared with other social systems, schooling has not changed appreciably in the past century. In an attempt to address this problem, educators, in conjunction with parents and business, have begun to push for the restructuring of time, space, organization, resources, and focus of schools.…

The contributors to this yearbook attempt to explain the reasons for the poor fit between schools and poor, immigrant, linguistically different, and racial minority students. The problems that confront schools because of changing populations and increased diversity are discussed in the following chapters: (1) "The Old Problem of 'New…

The work reported on in this yearbook collection represent the work of educators committed to the concept that genuine reform takes place in settings where students and teachers work together to create new educational communities. Reports on ongoing projects in several parts of the United States are included in the following chapters: (1)…

This report discusses the activities and outcomes of a study that investigated the effects of social service reform, school restructuring, and special education reform for children and youth with emotional and behavioral disabilities. The study involved 116 caregivers of students (ages 8-14) with emotional or behavioral disabilities served in a…

Written by major players in the small schools movement, this collection of essays points to the ways that school restructuring strategies connect to the ongoing pursuit of social justice. Activists, scholars, practitioners, and theorists review how and why small schools work for students, provide thick descriptions of the small schools strategy in…