This document for school-council members in Kentucky provides guidelines for school-based decision making (SBDM). In 1990, the Kentucky State legislature passed the Education Reform Act (KERA), which mandated SBDM in Kentucky schools and recommended the formation of school councils composed of the principal, three teachers, and two parents. The…

This study presents a report on parents' participation in a leadership-development project in which parents constructed their own leadership roles for improving children's educational opportunities and outcomes. The text focuses on parents working in collaboration with other parents, school administrators, and university faculty and staff. The…

This interim report evaluates the implementation of the "House Plan," a plan to create small personalized schools within the 110 large comprehensive high schools in New York (New York) by subdividing all ninth grades into separate units. This evaluation covers only the 37 "dropout prevention" high schools which had been…

Focusing on the area of student participation, this paper considers the findings of a research project conducted by a team at the University of Western Sydney, Nepean, and funded by the New South Wales Department of School Education. The project was broadly focused on investigating the dynamics of communication within the school communities of…

An overview of Canadian education is provided in this book. Chapter 1 presents basic facts and figures on the educational system's general structure and diversity and the role of the federal government. The second chapter describes provincial/territorial structure, specifically: the role of the departments of education and school board, financing,…

Despite current interest with the concept of the "New American School" model discussed in "America 2000," school systems continue to approach educational reform and restructuring by tinkering with key organizational components in isolation. The total school organization requires assessment and profiling to determine which key components are drags…

Questionnaires were mailed to parents of the 55 sixth graders in the 1988-89 year-round school pilot program in Conroe Independent School District in Texas and to those of sixth graders on the district's traditional calendar to determine parent perceptions and satisfaction regarding the year-round school calendar. The document also reviews the…

This chapter examines cases reported during 1981 that address the issue of school board governance. In addition to immunity cases, topics covered include the legal issues involved in establishing school board policies, the powers and responsibilities of school boards, open meeting laws, school board member misconduct, school elections, school…

This study describes four middle schools which educate poor and minority students more effectively than most middle schools in the New York City public school system. These schools were studied in order to define the characteristics associated with academic effectiveness. Chapter 1 provides the demographics and the test score results for each…

The use of microcomputers in elementary education is described by focusing on an empirical study of computer use in a 10% random sample of elementary schools in one large local education authority. The inclusion of people at the "grass roots" level was considered to be a priority. Interviews of school-level administrators, teachers, and…

This paper discusses a study of at-risk students in two highly contrastive schools, located in different districts, in order to illustrate the comparative perspective on how district and school characteristics might influence the definition of and response to at-risk students. The study is linked with a larger cultural context through an…

The effective implementation of school redesign, based on a social systems approach, is discussed in this paper. A basic assumption is that the interdependence of system elements has implications for a complex change process. Seven barriers to redesign and five critical issues for successful redesign strategy are presented. Seven linear steps for…

A special Research on Higher Education Program in Sweden is described, and a bibliography of approximately 450 studies of higher education and research is presented. Studies sponsored by the program cover four main fields: higher education and society; the content and organization of higher education; the research function; and the educational…

This handbook is part of the technical assistance effort of the California State Department of Education to clarify the operations of the California schools for parents so they might better support the education of their children. It provides information on the following: (1) the educational system, enrollment procedures and transportation,…

The development of goals and objectives for intercollegiate athletic programs and for athletes is discussed by Xavier University's vice-president for student development. Usually there is a combination of institutional goals such as using athletics to produce revenue or to recruit students, or achieving growth in participation in intercollegiate…