Comprising complex technologies from different academic areas, Tennessee's Value-Added Assessment System measures effects of the system, school, and teacher on rate of student progress. Research findings reveal neutral racial-composition effects for intermediate grades, deleterious effects for students changing buildings, lower yearly academic…

Pedagogical leadership is a more effective school-improvement alternative than bureaucratic, visionary, or entrepreneurial leadership. Pedagogical leadership invests in capacity building by developing social and academic capital for students, and intellectual and professional capital for teachers. Community-minded schools stress social covenants…

Examines development and implementation of Britain's National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) initiative, particularly the needs-assessment process, from an assessment center manager's perspective. Despite the pace, changing context, and inadequate resources, this initiative has ensured that principals will have more systematic…

School-effectiveness reviews were conducted in three small schools in western Canada, stressing the elements of school climate, shared purpose, professional community, and student and parent participation. Results showed that the mere opportunity for building "authentic communities for learning" did not mean that capacity was being…

The effective-schools movement as currently promoted by profit-oriented consultants has been contaminated by five fallacies: all children have equal learning opportunities; principals (not teachers) are instructional leaders; standards should be set by exceptions; academic standards should be uniform; and teachers should work smarter, not harder.…

Three key ingredients contributed to the opening of Tigard-Tualatin (Oregon) School District's middle schools: a growing population, a new superintendent, and a committed board of education chair. Central administration can maintain an effective middle school by recognizing that young adolescents are unique, finding programs to address their…

Argues that time and money are the two critical resources to allocate in any plan, and certainly regarding public education. Discusses four important elements in the debate about the use of resources: efficiency, content, effectiveness, and fairness. Outlines difficulties and questions regarding school funding. (SR)

In Georgia, support for middle schools has waned. Pressured by high-income parents and the standards/accountability movements, the state superintendent of schools denigrates Georgia's middle schools and has sought to remove special funding and reinstate tracking. However, the "Turning Points" ideals exemplified at Crabapple School remain…

The philosophy of one California middle school is predicated on providing support whenever needed. Aspiring to provide its Hispanic students with far more than survival skills, the successful school boasts a bilingual staff, personalized instruction, family-outreach programs, and an engaging student- centered curriculum. (MLH)

Systemic (top-down) educational reforms will remain limited unless they improve every teacher's methods and materials. Comprehensive or whole-school reform "scales up" effective schools until many more schools meet state and national standards. The federally funded Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration program provides a supportive…

Describes the role of the principal and assistant principal at Fairview Elementary School in creating a professional learning community. Notes parallels between the evolving cultures in the classrooms where literature circles are occurring and in the entire school becoming a learning community. Discusses the importance of literature, talk, choice,…

Examines transference issues in school effectiveness and improvement, including the relationship between within-school and across-school improvement. Describes how the head of a successful history department in an innercity high school changed the entire school from low achieving to high achieving after being appointed head teacher. (Contains 57…

Examines the correspondence between the middle school concept and Total Quality Management (TQM) principles. Discusses six TQM elements transferred easily into Total Quality Education: build the essence of quality into the process; improvement is a continuous process; quality is defined by the users; base decisions on data; change is systematic;…

The New Zealand Progress at School project, investigating school effects, found that individual academic progress is associated with a set of noncognitive dispositions: aspirations, self-concept, and acceptance of the institutional regime. School composition or mix effects were minor. Working-class kids read more proficiently in high-SES schools.…

For better or for worse, faculty senates remain a critical component of campus governance. Yet an understanding of how senates with various structures and cultures operate in the context of campus governance is limited. Based on site visits to 12 campuses, the author provides four models for understanding faculty senates: functional, influential,…