This paper summarizes the first 2 years of a school improvement effort in a low-performing rural school district in southern Virginia that involved developing a balanced K-12 curriculum aligned with the state's standards of learning. Project evaluation focused on changes in the school environment and in teaching and learning that resulted from the…

Presents three addresses given at a conference at the College of St. Thomas (Minnesota) by Vincent Reed, David Frye, and Casey Banas on the priorities of American secondary education from a local perspective. Jean Dye, Neal Nickerson, and Steve Permuth respond. (WD)

This review of the literature highlights research-based ways to improve schools and classrooms. Emphasis is on student time-on-task, effective teacher behaviors, and positive teacher supervision. (JM)

Analyzes data from the 1988 National Educational Longitudinal Study, which suggests that school policies and practices can reduce or exacerbate learning differences among students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Results indicated that schools organized around a communal mission with more holistic assessment fared better than…

Examines the operation of the Downtown Open School in Minneapolis, which serves children of parents who work downtown. Describes how the school follows the structure of a Basic School, focusing on effectively connecting classrooms and resources to enrich the curriculum. Details school characteristics, including mixed-grade classrooms, grade-level…

Reviews the debate during this century over the optimal size for an individual school in terms of efficiency and student outcomes. Current consensus correlates small schools with school effectiveness, community and school identity, and individual fulfillment and participation, and large schools with school inefficiency, institutional bureaucracy,…

Compares the effectiveness of public and private schools by analyzing trends in enrollments, organization, and graduation and college entrance. Policymakers need to address the growing public willingness to consider private alternatives in education. (BJV)

Students in middle grades have been neglected in education reform initiatives of the 1980s, yet outcomes for early adolescents have profound implications for society and the economy. Stressing the importance of higher order thinking and the dangers of risk-taking behaviors, this article urges increased middle grade intervention and reform. (AF)

Examines major cost-effectiveness proposals, describing developments that highlight concerns over making schools cost effective. The article discusses ways to blend the concerns of educational quality, equity, and costs (district consolidations, shared service and facilities arrangements, new accountability strategies, new information systems,…

Discusses two current educational trends: continuing cuts in educational funding, and expanded educational goals such as Goals 2000. Urges teachers to assume the responsibilities of professionalism, to be proactive, and to work collectively as individuals by lobbying to restrain state and federal legislators from diminishing funding for education.…

Department chairpersons should guide their departments to meet contemporary challenges by focusing on fostering student learning more effectively, stimulating faculty development, and engaging in curriculum development that responds to new academic syntheses and multidisciplinary approaches. (JB)

Explores the structures and assumptions underlying changing conceptions of good schools. Three separate models of good schools (real estate, accrediting agency, and value-added) are examined to provide insight into the fate of urban education, the wisdom of national assessment, and the crisis in U.S. education. (SLD)

Discusses culturally defined school success, using the case study of a videotape prepared by six Hispanic American and African-American students in an alternative New York City high school. Despite the project's pragmatic success, teachers judged the discussion task a failure. Bases of the prevailing view of success are discussed. (SLD)

Examines three categories of theories on educating disadvantaged students in ghetto schools: institutional deficiency, developmental deficiency, and cultural deficiency. The discussion focuses on problems and solutions within the schools and society. It stresses the need for community commitment, social change, and strong leadership to help…

Uses 11 data sets from 6 local British education authorities to examine the relationship between student performance on fifth-form examinations and school effectiveness. Presents hierarchical linear modeling to account for differences in prior attainment, gender, and social background. Finds few differences in school impact on performance. Urges…