One result of the extraordinarily rapid pace of educational reform in recent decades has been public expectation of greater accountability for the more than $300 billion spent annually on schools. As reformers have sought better ways to utilize all resources, including instructional time, block scheduling has been developed as a more efficient way…

The book covers 10 exemplary curriculum development sites, ranging from those that follow detailed state guidelines to those with few external mandates. All the examples are public schools, have been involved in the process of curriculum leadership for several years, and are geographically diverse. The book is organized around four questions: (1)…

This study examined Anchorage School District (Alaska) kindergarten classes from 1987-88, 1988-89, and 1989-90; these years correspond to the last year in which there was no full-day kindergarten program in the district, and the first and second years of the district's full-day program. The study examined matriculation patterns, special education…

The Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) was passed in 1990 as a result of a Kentucky Supreme Court order to establish an efficient and equitable system of public education. This report is a guide to the implementation of school-based decision making, which is the most immediate of the reform initiatives being implemented. A review of the role of…

Information about alternative education as a baseline of thought for school reorganization is presented in this document. Chapter 1 describes the perspectives of alternative education and identifies common types. Teaching methods, strategies, and beliefs of alternative education are discussed in chapter 2. Chapter 3 focuses on the structural…

The adoption of a school-based management/shared decision-making administrative process (SBM/SDM) was recommended for the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) school district in June 1990. Findings of a study that determined the attitudes of three non-Chapter 1 elementary school communities in Philadelphia toward the adoption of SBM/SDM are presented in…

Findings of a study that examined change in four elementary schools (members of large urban public school systems located in the south and southwest sections of the United States) from a conventional to a participatory model of school organization are presented in this paper. To compare teacher roles before and after implementation of the…

Prepared as background for participants in an exploratory conference, this paper examines whether school-business partnerships and other forms of business assistance are contributing to fundamental change and reform, in the education system. Five questions are investigated. (1) How are businesses currently working with public education? The four…

This paper, which provides a summary of an exploratory conference on school-business partnerships, relies heavily on a background paper for the conference disseminated as Occasional Paper #1. The current status of school-business partnerships is divided into the major categories of adopt-a-school programs, school improvement and support…

Chicago's city leaders, unlike other city leaders, are going after fundamental and radical restructuring of the nation's third largest school system, but have found that it is hard to achieve. This paper provides a snapshot of the growing political involvement of Chicago's business leadership with the city's troubled school system. The need for…

An account of the first year of Chicago's school reform effort as experienced in a predominantly Hispanic school is presented. The ethnicity of actors in each level of the restructuring effort is examined to develop an organizing framework to explain how interaction between these "layers" influences policy making and program…

The differences and similarities between education and the private sector are analyzed as they both engage in efforts to fundamentally restructure their operations. To bridge the cultural gap between business and education, a workable strategy that advances direct and sustained private-sector involvement in education reform is proposed. Part 1 of…

The growing proclivity of business leaders in some urban communities to become more deeply involved in the complex and politically volatile issue of school governance is assessed in this paper. The troubles facing Detroit public schools include a high dropout rate, illiteracy of graduates, and bad management of money and resources. In 1988,…

Georgia's business leadership is concerned about that state's public education system which has consistently ranked near the bottom of the educational ladder. In 1986, the Quality Basic Education (QBE) Act became law, and its provisions are described in this document. The Georgia Alliance for Public Education (the Alliance) was mobilized to…

In South Carolina, reform through the Educational Improvement Act (1984) and business-education partnerships are paying dividends in school improvements and gains in student performance. One key factor is the continued involvement of business leaders and business organizations in monitoring and supporting full implementation of reforms. Four…