For the U.S. to survive despite intensifying international competition, accelerating technological change, oppressive public and private debt, and demographic and work force changes, the learning enterprise must become far more productive. Two 1998 scenarios are presented: business-as-usual (favoring the rich) and a restructured system based on…

To implement numerous educational reforms within the constraints of skyrocketing enrollment and limited financial resources, Utah has given technology a key role. Technology has already changed teaching and learning via satellite delivery systems, writing labs, distance learning, instructional television, and other innovations. Policies and…

Presents the first William Walker Oration given to the the New England Association for Educational Administration in Armidale, Australia. Following a history of the establishment of the Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration, the role of leadership in the education system is described; particularly the transformational leadership. (22…

Drawing on NAEP assessment data and economic and educational arguments for restructuring, this article discusses the Holweide Comprehensive School experiment in Cologne, West Germany, and presents an Incentive Schools plan stressing team management, cooperative learning, and revamped assessment methods. Includes 16 references. (MLH)

Born in rural Tennessee, 15-year-old Billy Charles Barnett is proficient enough at hunting and fishing to support himself by teaching his survivalist skills to others. His economic well-being is threatened by required school attendance. Given the impoverished state of American education, society would not necessarily benefit from a lower dropout…

Organizational transformation, rather than improvement, is fast becoming the focus as dynamic and energetic leaders open new frontiers in work life and productivity. Schools can move beyond tinkering with structures and processes by creating a vision of school greatness. Florida's and Minnesota's experiments with professional partnerships are…

Presents survey information from 613 elementary school principals in the southeastern United States as to how their schools are organized and what grouping strategies are used. Considers multi-aged grouping and inclusion. (SR)

Almost 90 percent of principals (n=149) who responded to a survey of 12 Midwestern suburban school districts indicated support for the concept of site-based management (SBM). These principals were not particularly threatened by SBM, supported initiatives likely to empower teachers, and did not regard unionism as a specific barrier to SBM. (IAH)

Speculates about connections among educators' ideas of best practice, school organization, and policy. Develops six principles of best educational practice. These connect to organization and policy through resolving four recurring problems: how students are grouped, how teachers' work is defined, how content is allocated to time, and how student…

The causes of violence in schools, as in society, are multiple and complex; they are rooted in the intolerable economic and social conditions created by Brazil's development model, characterized by unequal wealth distribution, widespread poverty, and an exclusive society. By mirroring this exclusionary process, the educational system is inherently…

Discusses middle school student tracking. Describes a longitudinal analysis of tracking among 1,669 students. Argues that the number, stability, and size of tracks are determined independently of the student population distribution. Suggests that tracking is often based upon students' track history and prior achievement. Identifies tracking…

Describes a research project conducted in Kentucky that developed and tested the Kentucky Teacher Inventory, a set of teacher evaluation instruments that could be used to determine career path advancement and to examine teacher attitudes and use of that information as a means to promote school effectiveness. Effective knowledge utilization is…

Schools are examined using a common sociological perspective. Relationships among key groups in school organizations are discussed from a micropolitical frame of reference. School micropolitics are considered in terms of teacher autonomy, order, time, and school administrators and the organization. Implications for future micropolitical research…

Investigates how school organizational culture is related to important organizational characteristics and how the profiles of strong culture-effective schools differ from those of weak culture-inefficient schools, in terms of organizational variables, teachers' job attitudes, and school effectiveness criteria. The survey of 54 randomly sampled…

Current proclamations to reform schools with national examinations related to a national curriculum are a reflection of ignorance and destined to fail. We need to address educational improvement with seriousness and complexity and reconsider workplace structure, curriculum character, teaching practices, and the forms used to appraise our quality…