A teacher action research study, undertaken as part of the larger Schools Reaching Out (SRO) project, sponsored by the Institute for Responsive Education, is described in this report. The project is based on the concept of the urban school, family, and community partnership as a means to improve all children's academic achievement and social…

Site-based decisionmaking is the concept of collaboration between school faculty and administration in planning, problem solving, and decision making in school policies and practices. One reason to implement this type of management is that school reform requires the involvement of all stakeholders in the educational process to be effective. During…

Characteristics of middle schools are analyzed, based on data from surveys in 1968 and 1988. In 1968, W. M. Alexander undertook a survey to provide benchmark data about middle schools with information from 110 schools. This study was replicated in 1988 with data received from 56% of the 10,857 schools approached. Comparison of these data confirmed…

For effective schools, leadership is vital. As the structure of American education evolved, a model of how a local school board should function emerged. The model is briefly summarized and research on educational leadership, challenges of school board service in New York State, and responsibilities of school boards are discussed. Key leadership…

Parental choice represents a promising approach to school improvement; it eliminates the excessive regulation, inefficient operation, and ineffective service that characterize the public monopolies that American schools and school systems have become. However, school reformers should bear in mind the following key points: (1) school performance…

This edition of the Illinois school reform law includes revisions made during the recent legislative session. The text covers every aspect of organization and administration, including finance, hiring and firing, state aid allocation, teacher training and evaluation, pupil lunches, curriculum design, educational objectives, performance audits,…

The relationship of middle school climate to academic achievement was examined. Participants were members of eight 6th grade classes. Four of the classes were in elementary settings, and four in middle school settings. Classes were matched as closely as possible on economic status and ethnic composition. Entered into correlational analyses were…

This four-part paper examines formal and informal organizational structures at Selinsgrove Area Middle School, which serves about 1,000 students in grades 5-8. Part I presents a brief history of the founding of the school and the court battles preceding its construction, and the reasons why the initial steering committee chose a middle school…

A microanalysis of social interaction in a preschool classroom revealed ways in which children and teachers "co-constructed" the rudiments of school culture during the first three days of school. Findings are based on videotapes, teachers' notes, and daily field notes taken by a group of observers. The three domains of the establishment…

Issues related to decentralization, with a focus on community involvement, are discussed in this paper. The 20th-century Indonesian experience is analyzed to illustrate the process by which a national administrative reform policy develops, and to identify contributing and inhibiting factors relating to the implementation of decentralization. The…

This paper examines the connection between educational policymaking and the organization and functioning of the public schools. First, the authors describe hierarchical levels of educational organization (districts, schools, classrooms, instructional groups, and individual students); consider the linkages between levels; and discuss the…

Tracking--the system of grouping students for instruction on the basis of ability--reflects the class and racial inequalities of American society and helps to perpetuate them. In the junior and senior high schools studied, there were clear differences between upper and lower tracks in: (1) content and quality of instruction, (2) teacher-student…

This report's central theoretical assumption is that adolescents are in risk of problem behavior if they are not sufficiently equipped with the social and psychological competencies to cope with culturally and socially defined developmental tasks specific to their ages. The first chapter describes the socio-structural factors which have changed…

The environment within which an organization must operate is expected to influence its administrative and program characteristics. Since public schools operate in more complex and conflicting environments than do private schools, it is predicted that they will exhibit greater administrative complexity and less curricular coherence. These…

This volume is part of a series of monographs from Australia devoted to outlining an alternative approach, based on neo-Marxist concepts, to educational administration. The introductory essay in the volume is an argument for the democratization of education by establishing a case for changing schools: by discussing industrial democracy as a…