This research brief recaps a study of California charter schools. After a discussion of the key distinctions among charter schools, the brief focuses on the following questions: (1) Who attends charter schools? (2) How does student achievement in charter schools compare with that in conventional public schools? (3) What oversight do chartering…

This paper reports on a study to determine if teacher self-efficacy in site-based managed schools differed from teacher self-efficacy in schools that were not site-based managed. The study also examined whether there was a relationship between self-efficacy in site-based managed schools and schools that were not site-based managed in regards to…

The whole problem of secondary education, both as to aims and as to methods, is now undergoing investigation. The demands for the readjustment of the work of the high school are insistent. This bureau has no specialists in secondary education and is unable to respond as it should to the many requests for information in regard to the trend of…

San Francisco teachers and principals in low-performing schools receive one chance to repair things and are removed if they fail. Many closed schools have reopened with new staff. The paper describes school takeovers, discussing advantages and disadvantages of the method and opinions of various school officials and teachers. (SM)

The effects of a school's age organization (age-segregated versus age-mixed) were examined within a quasi-experimental design with 702 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students. Factors measured include popularity, perceived competence, and mixed-age and cross-sex friendships. (TJH)

Examines the effects of school organization and climate on mainstreaming in an urban middle school. Discusses how certain behaviors, beliefs, and mechanisms result in the exclusion of some special education students from regular classes, programs, and facilities. (FMW)

Restructuring consequences in Australian education have largely been confined to administrative levels. However, change must occur at the classroom level, beginning with outcomes and processes. Five levels are critical to supporting classroom practice: student outcomes; learning; teaching; organizational structures; and leadership, resourcing, and…

Perceptions of 55 parents, 30 children, and their teachers concerning black supplementary schools in the United Kingdom indicate that most believe that these supplementary schools, a response to racism, provide a better education than state-run schools, even though supplementary schools are part-time. Supplementary school development is discussed.…

Offers a fictionalized account of the development, within an elementary school, of four distinctive schools-within-schools. Questions and issues arising in developing such programs are discussed; the theme of each of these four is described, and advantages that staff find in the arrangement are presented. (Author/JB)

Discusses four similarities between early childhood education systems in Oxfordshire, England and Reggio Emilia, Italy. Similarities between the two school systems include an integrated curriculum; (mixed) age grouping and school organization; the teacher's role; and the pedagogical underpinnings. (BB)

Describes a project that was developed to determine the potential of computer-based instruction for meeting the needs of elementary students in small, rural school settings. Highlights include computer-managed instruction; the importance of local context, including administration, parents, and staff; and the impact on student achievement, school…

Addresses key factors that influence the academic and social performance of minority and at-risk youth, including lack of role models, societal expectations and realities, ineffective practices, and patterns of school organization. The article provides suggestions for what teachers can do and what schools can do through staff development. (SM)

Analyzes school choice in terms of inter-school student transfer and explains choice as the result of two factors: organization of student mobility among schools in terms of vacant positions and student body composition; and the influence and position of the school within the educational market. (MJP)

This ethnographic case study examined the socialization of a beginning kindergarten teacher as a means for better understanding the socialization process and the implications for teacher education. Recommends that organizational literacy be incorporated into teacher education programs to help new teachers understand the bureaucratic and…

High schools need new kinds of spaces to accommodate the many different ways students will work in the future. Floor plans show a 1,600-student high school that organizes students as a large school, a house, an academy, a small family, studios for 5 students, and, finally, individual study spaces. (MLF)