This tool is intended to work in conjunction with Kentucky?s Standards and Indicators for School Improvement. Together, these two documents allow districts to identify opportunities for improvement and provide guidance for maximizing those opportunities through planning and the development of the district improvement plan. It includes a glossary,…

Criticizes John Goodlad's book "A Place Called School," claiming the conclusions and recommendations are questionable because of a limited review of the literature, a lack of student achievement data, and methodological problems. (MLF)

John Goodlad, author of "A Place Called School," responds to Hersh Waxman's critical review by claiming Waxman takes terms out of context, ignores the author's caveats, and critiques what the book is not, contrary to everything the author says it is. (MLF)

Traces the reorganization of Seton Catholic High School, the only Catholic high school in Wyoming. Discusses the roles of support groups, administration, programs, physical plant, curriculum dress code, and enrollment. Attributes success to cooperation, unity, and participation, and to factors such as public relations and meeting geographic needs.…

Advocates free individual or parental choice about schooling, as well as increased attention to education's role in determining individual attitudes and philosophy, as the keystones of educational reform. (SK)

The Quality Circle--an approach to problem solving and quality control now used in industry--can be used as well in educational situations. (JW)

The author maintains that John Goodlad's rigid insistence (in an article in this issue) on the school's accomplishment of idealistic and lofty goals is unrealistic and unfair. These goals are merely something to work toward. (JM)

John Goodlad and his associates have produced a report that provides a more comprehensive basis for understanding United States schools than any previously published. (Author/JM)

Proposes questions that can be raised by principals evaluating the character and effectiveness of their high schools. Suggests studying the nature of daily school operations, the school program, the school's structure and schedule, student activities, staff quality, guidance services, off-campus learning opportunities, administration, and school…

Because the current approach to education is basically inadequate, educators should not rely on relatively minor adjustments to achieve major changes in student achievement. Urges development of totally new concepts of education based on recently gained scientific knowledge about the brain's learning processes, described briefly here. (PGD)

The principles of a sound education can be incorporated in a middle school or a junior high school. It is important that commitment be made to programs rather than to the psychological ploy of a name. (Author/MLF)

Effective middle-level schools provide students with a supportive structure in the form of relationships between teachers and students. Research has confirmed the effectiveness of team organization, advisory groups, multi-age grouping, and exploratory curricula. (Author/MLF)

Reviews recent research studies on school effects and the principal's role and finds encouragement in the studies' focus on principals within their school's social system. Discusses studies relating school effectiveness to principals' leadership roles, formal authority, relations with the central office, and involvement in instructional…

Following a brief overview of the development of the concepts of "efficiency" and "effectiveness," this article relates the concepts to minimum cost and customer satisfaction and states that administrators should discuss with the community the limitations and constraints under which schools operate. (Author/MLF)

Outlines, via the fictional character Horace, what many of today's English teachers may be feeling: the compromises, frustrations, and hopes involved in their work. Discusses reform today, maintaining the status quo, and an emerging pattern of change in high schools. Finds cause for hope in the troubled indecision of most Americans about what is…