This planning guide begins with a working definition of "magnet school" and then gives short descriptions of six sample types of elementary level magnet programs: a fundamental or academic prep school, a Montessori school, a music academy, an earth science school or environmental center, a bilingual-multicultural magnet, and a fine arts academy.…

This digest reviews recent evidence of the positive effects of small-scale schooling on student achievement. Historically, larger school size has been viewed as an important educational reform producing cost-effectiveness and educational efficiency. Today, small-scale schooling is found primarily in rural areas and small towns. A 1964 study…

Developments in several states suggest that a state-imposed accountability system is gradually taking shape. State authorities have established both incentive systems to reward high-performing school districts and systems of sanctions to be applied to districts with a record of repeated low performance. To accomplish this, a majority of states are…

The ways in which current theories of leadership relate to perceptions of organizational effectiveness are examined in a study looking at these interactions and relevant demographic factors in 11 small, private, midwestern colleges. A model of transactional and transformational leadership proposed by Bass (1985) is investigated along with an…

This paper presents the findings of a study of the effectiveness of collaboration between the Rural Education Research and Service Consortium at Tennessee Technological University and rural schools in its service area. The study uses the instrumentation and research design of the Good Schools Project (GSP) initiated by Kappa Delta Pi in 1984.…

The Flint (Michigan) Community Schools developed a four-phase School Improvement process model. In Phase 1 (Commitment), school district and administrative support were obtained and pilot schools were selected (one elementary and one middle school). The principals of these schools and one teacher representative from each received training in…

This survey of the effective schools research findings briefly comments on the research methodology of the studies cited, then lists the research findings related to school processes and outcomes and to the principal. Those findings related to school processes and outcomes are divided into the following categories: A Safe and Orderly Environment,…

This bibliography provides a recommended list of research and theoretical literature in the field of secondary education. It organizes the literature into three main categories: (1) references of general interest; (2) reform strategies designed to promote academic achievement; and (3) literature relevant to the specific research projects conducted…

Preventing dropouts is the main topic of the 12 publications reviewed in this annotated bibliography. A statistical analysis of dropouts in Portland, Oregon, revealed that the correlation by school was far greater than correlation by residential area. In another study, approximately 155 droputs were questioned and most believed that the school…

The National Study of School Evaluation (NSSE) developed and tested a self-evaluation instrument to be used by unit schools (having grades K-12 under one administration and usually under the same roof or at least on the same grounds). A National Advisory Committee wrote the new instrument, compiling items from existing NSSE evaluative materials…

A major challenge confronting vocational educators is to justify programs in economic terms. The purpose of this study was to propose and implement a cost-benefit analysis model to determine the economic outcomes of secondary vocational education programs at the local level. For the study, a cost-benefit model for secondary vocational education…

This paper presents a fixed effects model on the impact of individual high schools on adult earnings. This model not only captures the effects on observed and unobserved characteristics of high school on earnings, but also can control for selection bias resulting from correlation between school quality and student ability. The principal data used…

The current demand for educational excellence is an outgrowth of recent national reports criticizing secondary education. This push for academic excellence also affects vocational education outcomes. A growing consensus seems to be emerging that at the secondary level (1) vocational education should be integrated with academic education, (2)…

The Baltimore County Public School system implemented the use of quality circles in its school improvement programs to facilitate change through increased involvement of faculty in decision making. The program increased the productivity and the motivation of the staff in their efforts to strive toward excellence. This paper describes the program…

A study was made of 39 secondary schools which had implemented new programs that had a research base in the effective schools/classrooms literature, that were well-defined, and that emphasized improvement effort at the building level. A discussion presenting the aims and methods of the study includes a working definition of the effective schools…