Outlines a proactive school organization model useful for special need populations (handicapped, and linguistically and culturally different learners) because it enables all participants to collaborate on a systematic, four-phase change process: data collection, needs assessment, development of interventions, and evaluation of outcomes. The focus…

Instead of freeing teachers to teach, schools' bureaucratic organization may have inadvertently produced ritualized, mechanistic teaching that elicits only minimal compliance from students. Defensive teaching strategies, including fragmentation (teaching by lists), mystifying information, omitting controversial topics, and simplifying material,…

This article outlines the types of school programs that will build on the strengths of educationally disadvantaged students, bring them into the mainstream, and prepare them for economic, political, and social participation. (MT)

The current educational format emphasizes learning for grades, for future reward, or to avoid punishment. To promote learning for its own sake and a better understanding of society, secondary schools need to become dynamic learning and living centers where all students, teachers, and administrators are engaged cooperatively in integrated, active…

Alternative secondary schools were placed in separate groups based on patterns of organizational variables including goals, instructional features, size, sources of funding, and target school population. Distinct patterns of student perceptions of their school learning environment seem to be associated with identifiable patters of organizational…

Using the development of Third World countries as a metaphor for individual school development, this article describes a method used for eight years in a British secondary school to support internal school development initiatives. Emphasis is placed on internal communication and collaboration and on obtaining outside support rather than outside…

Advances a model of individual teacher power using data collected in three high schools. A teacher's power resides in his/her access to various persons, information, and material resources. The resulting dependency of administrators on these resources can allow teachers to influence behavior. (Author/CS)

Describes a separate engineering administrative unit established to meet the needs of lower-division students. Need for the unit, courses that make up the basic program of instruction, advising, academic assistance, and advantages and disadvantages to the engineering college are discussed along with concerns and problems that have arisen. (BC)

An inhouse student scheduling and information system facilitated the successful reorganization of a Massachusetts high school to a four-year program. (MJL)

Results of three experiments indicated that school achievement is predicted by intelligence and academic time on-task in traditionally-structured schools and by intelligence and student commitment in open structured schools. Increasing the amount of teacher-directed time would increase achievement in traditional schools but decrease achievement in…

This summary of a study describing the communications of school administrators and teachers and the degree of congruency between principals' and teachers' instructional intentions and students' and teachers' perceptions of classroom events concludes by proposing Rensis Likert's overlapping work groups as a more effective organizational pattern for…

An examination of the technical and theoretical strengths and weaknesses of three British research studies on the effectiveness of selective and nonselective schooling shows that the reorganization of British schools has not produced the lowering of educational standards that politically motivated groups would like people to believe. (RM)

The outcome of this study is the construction of a model which gives clearer understanding to the ramifications of the bureaucratic/professional interface and the role it plays in the processes of governance and decision-making in the schools. (Author)

Among the findings are the following: teacher-parent dispute increase with formalization and training and decline with staff seniority, and interactions increase and disputes decline with organization size. (Author/AM)

This text examines various features in the school culture and argues that the "extraordinary" represents an important dimension in the way a school is maintained and managed. It discusses various aspects of culture such as vestibules, speech night, school excursions, and festivities and looks at aspects of school administration from the…