Explores the appropriateness and synchrony between educational policy reforms imported into Hong Kong and central features of the host culture. Draws upon Geert Hofstede's cultural dimensions to provide a framework for identifying and matching Hong Kong's culture in juxtaposition with other cultures. Despite powerful Western influences, Hong Kong…

In The Netherlands, waning confidence in government has resulted in educational policy favoring deregulation and increased autonomy for school boards and schools. Despite restructuring reforms, an intermediary administrative tier has developed that may be undermining school autonomy and weakening the central government's sense of responsibility.…

Argues that developmentally appropriate knowledge-in-use may be academically rigorous even when it does not mimic the more adult-like academic disciplines. Considers the creation of developmentally appropriate curriculum and ways to measure the academic rigor of learning outcomes without relying upon achievement tests grounded in academic…

A survey of local school-board chairs in North Carolina concluded that such leaders show more philosophical agreement with reform ideas (decentralization, work redesign, the student as worker, school choice, and the board chair's role) than practical knowledge of how to implement those ideas locally. (MLH)

Uses a case-study approach based on Mazzoni's 1991 "Political Initiation of Policy Innovation" model to examine the politics of Newfoundland's 1990 Royal Commission on Education, as it attempted to reform the province's denominational education system. Mazzoni's linear model was successfully modified to reflect ancillary economic,…

Examines the experience of participants in the 25 British Columbia teacher research groups involved in a primary education restructuring initiative. Characterizes teacher research as a striving for authenticity involving participants in five different struggles: engaging in professional discourse; providing mutual support, stability, and…

The origin of the idea of systemic educational reform is traced, placing the concept within the context of educational developments in the 1980s and 1990s. How systemic reform is being interpreted and applied by analysts and policymakers today is explored. Systemic reform should be a useful step toward genuine improvement. (SLD)

Provides an overview of the philosophy of "education-as-inquiry." Describes and examines a new Indianapolis, Indiana, public school, the Center for Inquiry, with 128 students and seven teachers, which follows an education-as-inquiry curriculum. Advocates an extended program of parent involvement at the center. (PA)

Proposes a 10-criteria classification framework, derived from current literature, to capture the characteristics of the design, leadership, and implementation of school improvement programs in the United Kingdom. Uses the classification frame to analyze the design model adopted by the secondary school in the case study. Draws conclusions about the…

Presents an overview of charter schools, tracing the history of the charter schools movement and outlining charter school laws in the states. Charter schools have been aimed at breaking the mold of the large urban schools and promoted as a way to restructure urban public education from within. Summarizes concerns of charter school critics. (SLD)

Presents the case study of a collaborative partnership between the Dayton Public Schools (Ohio), the Dayton Education Association (union), and community constituencies in providing elementary education options for students. Outlines lessons learned in the establishment of the World of Wonder Accelerated Primary School. (SLD)

Inquisitiveness is what drives children's learning. Cognitive scientists have devised constructivist theory to explain how an individual progresses from curiosity to new knowledge. Formal schooling has struggled unsuccessfully to simulate real-life learning situations. Emerging brain research supports bringing the community into the learning…

In Prince George's County, Maryland, Superintendent Jerome Clark told staffs of low-performing schools to resign and reapply for positions. New principals were hired, and schools were restaffed. San Francisco has experimented with reconstituting or jumpstarting dysfunctional schools since the 1980s. A Department of Education study shows mixed…

Immediately following the 1999 Columbine High School shootings in Colorado, the issue of school size jumped onto the front pages and into policy discussions. When violent episodes broke out in Littleton, Colorado, Port Huron, Michigan and in other districts, they have dominated the national media scene for months in a way that student deaths in…

In this article, Mark R. Warren argues that if urban school reform in the United States is to be successful, it must be linked to the revitalization of the communities around our schools. Warren identifies a growing field of collaboration between public schools and community-based organizations, developing a typology that identifies three…