In 1990, the Ontario Ministry of Education implemented the Transition Years project, an initiative for restructuring middle-grades education. This document presents quantitative findings of a study that identified variations in progress among pilot school sites, with a focus on the commitment-building process. Data were derived from: (1) two…

This document contains 14 individual papers by prominent scholars who provide a historical perspective on current educational reforms. The three essays in part 1 examine some of the major changes in educational development and reform. These include: (1) "Antiquarianism and American Education: Assimilation, Adjustment, Access" (Patricia…

The total quality management (TQM) concepts of W. Edwards Deming were used at Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka, Alaska. The school is an alternative school with about 210 students and 13 teachers. The students are a mix of native Alaskans and immigrants from other states. TQM was introduced into the school by a teacher. Students used TQM to…

In 1990, Kent-Meridian High School in Kent, Washington, decided to implement four schools within schools, each with its separate academic and career focus. The first section of this paper outlines the 3-year evaluation plan for the Health/Science School (1992-1995), with a focus on identifying program outcomes and developing assessment measures.…

School restructuring continues to be a common approach to improving education. Despite restructuring's continued and growing support, there is little research to support its effectiveness. The theoretical contrast exposed in school restructuring is between bureaucratic and organic organizational forms. A study assessed the effect of restructuring…

The first-year results of a Tennessee partnership to support a data-based school improvement effort, the Positive Attitudes in Tennessee Schools Project (PATS), are summarized in this report. The partnership consists of school-site leadership teams, state department of education personnel, and university faculty. Methodology involved two…

The goal of school reform in Oakland (California) is a learning environment that enables all students to be competent, confident, conscious, and caring individuals and holds the school accountable for the delivery of equal education. The following conditions are essential: (1) effective school leadership; (2) rigorous, challenging curriculum and…

This summary of a report on strategies to improve education in Oakland (California) emphasizes that there is no magic solution to school reform and encourages ongoing community participation. The goal of school reform is a learning environment that enables all students to be competent, confident, conscious, and caring individuals and holds the…

"Success for All" is a compensatory education program that significantly increased the reading performance of disadvantaged primary grade students in a Baltimore (Maryland) elementary school while also reducing retentions and special education placements. The program concentrates resources in kindergarten through grade three and uses…

Current theorizing in education, as in industry, is largely devoted to explaining trial-and-error, failure-tolerant, low-reliability organizations. This article examines changing societal demands on education and argues that effective responses to those demands require new and different organizational structures. Schools must abandon industrial…

Overviews of 10 major restructuring initiatives in the United States are provided in this publication. The programs share a questioning attitude, vision-based goals, a focus on hands-on learning, an assumption of all children's learning potential, new approaches to thinking and problem-solving, and new participant roles. Each program is described…

Findings from a study to identify types of teacher involvement in school restructuring are described in this paper. A total of 203 teachers from 18 schools participating in Tennessee's Leadership in Educational Administration Development (LEAD) project in 1987-88 completed a questionnaire to compare their actual and preferred involvement in…

This paper reports on a longitudinal study, known as the Rancho Plan, begun in 1976 at a high school in California. The study was conducted to experiment with planned change in organizational and instructional structures. The data which have emerged offer teachers' recollections of what was and connect them to the long-term effects of a planned…

The Accelerated School Program is designed to improve the education of disadvantaged students by using "acceleration" techniques used with gifted and talented students. The goal is to speed up the learning of at-risk students so they will be able to perform at grade level by the end of elementary school. Central to the strategy is the…

Factors such as the need for flexible, responsive schools prompted the 1980s national dialogue about possible societal and economic changes in the role of the educational system. Those same factors set the national and Minnesota agenda for youth in the 1990s and on into the 21st Century. Changes that occur in the educational systems should achieve…