Current proclamations to reform schools with national examinations related to a national curriculum are a reflection of ignorance and destined to fail. We need to address educational improvement with seriousness and complexity and reconsider workplace structure, curriculum character, teaching practices, and the forms used to appraise our quality…

Summarizes a study that expands the contextual parameters of effective schools research by defining the school district as a macro social system containing individual schools as microsocial systems. Analyzes principals' and superintendents' perceptions of six identified effective schools to determine the significance of the superintendent's role…

Discusses impediments to school restructuring, presenting arguments for and against it. The article describes a process of systematic change that allows school restructuring to deliver a specific ideology. A framework that includes purpose, strategy, and tactics is presented. The process of relief, recovery, and reform in school restructuring is…

Summarizes the development of a restructuring model of Poudre High School (Colorado) begun in 1989 with the creation of a three-tiered framework: (1) central variables such as teacher expectations, curriculum, and assessment; (2) enabling variables, including support services, governance technology, and cultural awareness; and (3) supporting…

Schools with character have unique cultures and are committed to developing academic and social capital. The principal's greatest challenge and primary responsibility is to develop a caring school community, a place where strong character emerges from shared purpose that encourages students to be successful learners. Contains 13 references. (MLH)

Evaluates efficiency of a sample of Spanish secondary schools, focusing on the measurement model's theoretical specification and the "ex post" analysis of results. Highlights characteristics that differentiate the most efficient schools from the least efficient. Stresses the importance of employing information supplied by both…

Addresses two questions: (1) Why are there not more defensible studies proving that middle-level programs, practices, and policies work?; and (2) Does the middle school work? Argues that middle-level research is ahead of research in other levels during similar time frames and proposes a model to address the impact of middle schools. (SD)

Discusses the practice of grade repetition in French schools, indicating that repetition is not beneficial to the pupil concerned. Notes that countries that have abandoned grade repetition have not suffered a lowering of educational standards, nor have they incurred extra costs, and describes ways to achieve this end. Contains 11 references. (EMH)

Demonstrates the experimenting society model using data-based decision making and collaborative consultation to evaluate behavior-management intervention strategies in 25 seventh graders. Each intervention results in improved behavior, but active teaching of classroom rules was determined to be most effective. (Author/JDM)

In 1992, the government of Indonesia initiated the Primary Education Quality Improvement Project (PEQIP) to improve educational quality at the elementary level. A World Bank-sponsored assessment of school effectiveness in two provinces found very large differences in student achievement among schools, with implementation of PEQIP components…

Explores effects of schools, teachers, and classes on first-year secondary students at year's end in Belgium, using multilevel analysis. Classes' and schools' relative influence on achievement is much higher than on well-being. An academic climate can discourage nonmotivated students. A communitarian climate can motivate all pupils. (Contains 54…

Examined how English special schools, which had been inspected, judged inadequate, and put under special measures, made progress. Data from documentary analysis and case studies in special schools indicated that progress related to the conduct of certain planning-related activities following inspection. Whether these activities happened depended…

Assesses whether second-level schools in Ireland are equally effective regarding examination performance, absenteeism, and potential dropouts, using multivariate analyses of data from 15- and 16-year-olds in 116 schools. Absenteeism and potential dropout rates are lower in schools that enhance pupils' academic progress. (Contains 22 references.)…

Describes the revision process that the National Catholic Educational Association's Department of Religious education is currently undergoing to update and improve its religious education assessment surveys. Factors that have prompted revision pertain to ecumenical, social justice, and human sexuality concerns and use of age-appropriate and…

The National Income and Product Accounts provided by the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis and similar accounts in other nations in accord with the System of National Accounts, useful for many types of economic analysis, should be revised to cover investment in education and the production and consumption of education services. (SLD)