Reviews Scottish national system of residential schools for maladjusted children. Describes history and organization of List D schools for delinquents and List G schools for emotionally/behaviorally disturbed children. Discusses differences between schools and lack of school effectiveness measures. Forecasts typical future residential schools and…

Many teachers feel inadequately prepared to work with parents. Administrators must stress that only the home and school working together can create effective schools and that staff development to help teachers, specialists, and support staff achieve that partnership is worthwhile. (Author/LHW)

Discusses resources available to schools operating as open and closed systems. Examines school/community relations and school effectiveness, schools as resource machines, and resources offered by teachers and parents. Stresses that broad concepts of community, good communication, and citizen involvement can utilize resources at high levels of…

Examines the major characteristics of effective schools, focusing on the role of science teachers in contributing to school effectiveness. Suggests that maximum benefits can result from improvements in teacher responsiveness and in classroom management areas. (ML)

Both the design and image have an effect upon the success of an educational facility in that they affect motivation for both teaching and learning. The components of image include nondeceptive appearance, information availibility, logical location, attractiveness, personality, and human needs. Seven references are provided. (DCS)

Seven schools show how to turn a challenge into an opportunity. Examples of how these schools work with the community to develop effective and motivating programs to meet student needs are presented. (DF)

Several common factors set two New York middle schools apart from less effective schools: pride in the program, optimism concerning its effectiveness, variety in offerings and scheduling, opportunities for professional development, staff loyalty, excellent use of resources, good community leadership, high parent involvement, and healthy…

School organizations need to make changes in the organizational culture of schools in order to achieve excellence. An analogy between cognitive systems and organizational belief systems helps to explain the ways that beliefs and values are structured in school organizations. (MLF)

A model of "alternant leadership"--leading and succeeding one another by turn--is presented that proposes a democratic, collegial, multivoter, team approach to electing educational leaders. The rationale is based on contingency theories of administration and studies on leadership succession. Related articles are EA 519 583 and 584. (MLF)

Based on the theory that institutional change and improvement are motivated more by knowledge of problems than by knowledge of successes, a fault tree analysis technique using Boolean logic for assessing institutional ineffectiveness by determining weaknesses in the system is presented. Advantages and disadvantages of focusing on weakness rather…

Introduces four articles based on an Education Commission of the States study that identified political and demographic elements interacting to improve schools and the states' role in the change process. Discusses several conditions critical to developing successful improvement programs, including political, monetary, and technical support. (MLH)

William Ouchi's 1981 book designates as "Type Z" American firms that effectively combine domestic and Japanese management strategies. Applications of this theory to improving school effectiveness would involve combining in each school the components of vital philosophy, curricular clarity, instructional focus, social organization, and…

Examines why an elementary school, set up as a model school promoting learning effectiveness, was not working as predicted. Concentrates on staff assessments of principal's role. (JW)

Analyzes similarities and differences between the educational views of so-called New Right and centrist conservatives. Holds that New Right policies would be an unmitigated disaster for our schools and society, while centrist policies would simply fail on several grounds. (CJM)

Three British studies recently compared the examination results of pupils from comprehensive schools with those of selective schools. Each study reached somewhat contrasting conclusions. Major differences among the studies are discussed in order to clarify reasons for the contrasting interpretations and to illustrate the major difficulties in…