Considers three popular educational reforms: enforcing basic academic competencies, professionalism among teachers, and partnerships with business. The authors explain that while effective schools, teacher professionalism, and business approaches to quality and efficiency through teamwork and shared cultural values have much in common,…

Identifies invalid and self-defeating assumptions held within the educational reform movement that have thwarted its success. Suggests that reformers' assertions that American schools are worse than in the past are based on anecdotes, not research, and that their belief in the importance of tradition prevents them from seeing major social and…

Offers an overview of 40 years of American educational change and suggests that technology may be the answer to its improvement. Argues for the creation of a telecommunications highway to connect the diverse and worldwide educational resources for use by all children, and suggests that the marriage of the technological revolution and educational…

Compares faculty and administrator attitudes on the importance of institutional activities in two-year colleges, based on responses from 358 administrators and faculty from 58 institutions. Discusses five points that may help guide efforts to implement institutional effectiveness (IE) activities, including the fact that faculty and administrative…

Presents information gained while working with English language teachers in Russia in the fall of 1999. Describes the school system within Russia as well as information on the structure of schools in Russia. Explores characteristics of Russian schools and the challenges to Russian education. (CMK)

Offers preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of outcomes endorsement, which evaluates institutional effectiveness using a set of student-centered, measurable goals established in conjunction with an external peer team. Indicates that the team assists in goal selection, measure selection, plan development, and intervention documentation.…

Describes 20/20 analysis procedures (which uses the 20th and 80th percentiles to identify students at the margins who need adapted instruction). Also examines cross-categorical programming, costs, needs for efficiency, accountability, and labeling. A methodology using computerized, multiyear 20/20 analyses to estimate school effectiveness…

Discusses initial attempts at improving the U.S. educational system and what was discovered when several secondary schools used Ted Sizer's ideas for school reform as embodied by the Coalition of Essential Schools. Reveals Coalition principles work best in schools with simple structures, where student learning is given precedence, the principals…

Effects of student poverty and location on school accountability scores were examined using hierarchical linear modeling and data from 1,115 Kentucky schools in 171 districts. Positive effects of nonmetro location were found, but they did not erase the strong negative effect of poverty. Projections indicate that equitable excellence will not be…

The principal of a large Boston elementary school encountered 10 barriers to high student achievement. Examines why he and his staff struggled with those barriers for most of his 15-year tenure at the school. Believes the turning point came when Massachusetts mandated high-stakes tests. (MLF)

Explores the benefits of teacher leadership as well as the barriers to and opportunities for making teacher leadership work in practice. Concludes that teacher leadership could have beneficial effects on school improvement, but that the right conditions need to be in place. (Contains 79 references.) (MLF)

The wilderness school is integral to outdoor therapeutic programming (OTP). By combining research from educational psychology with experiential education practices within the context of environmental relevance, an ideal composition of educational excellence emerges as a positive standard in therapeutic wilderness camps. Serving northeast Tennessee…

Parallel studies in Alberta elementary, junior high, and senior high schools found school-level differences in principal opinions about specific facets of their school's effectiveness, their own effectiveness, and their own job satisfaction. Teachers and superintendents rated school and principal effectiveness lower than did principals. Contains…

A general longitudinal model is presented for estimating school effects and their stability. The model, capable of separating true changes from sampling and measurement error, controls statistically for effects of factors exogenous to the school system. The model is illustrated with data from large cohorts of students in Scotland. (SLD)

According to John Chubb's research, the more influence principals (relative to that of superintendents, district offices, unions, and school boards) had over hiring and firing teachers, curriculum decisions, instructional methods, and disciplinary policy the more effectively organized schools were likely to be. Chubb recommends a public education…