This review of the literature and analysis looks at the concept of full inclusion of students with disabilities in the context of the regular education initiative (REI). The concept of full inclusion is explained as the use of new methods, techniques, and strategies to teach students with and without disabilities in the same classroom.…

This document describes the steps for redesigning public schools into Championship Schools, a comprehensive approach to transformation. Eight transformational processes are outlined: organizational conditioning, clarifying values, strategic planning, measuring, communicating, coaching, team building, and community building. To successfully…

This brief describes political challenges to systemic reform and explores the conditions under which coherent policymaking might occur. A focus is the role of states in achieving policy integration. The first section describes political challenges to systemic reform, which include a lack of consensus on student standards, a focus on inputs and…

The Chicago Public Schools have experienced major reforms since the late 1980s. This has resulted in increased power to local school communities and the creation of local school councils (LSCs) that employ its principals. This paper presents findings of a study that examined principals' perceptions of their changing roles under Chicago's school…

This paper describes school restructuring efforts undertaken since 1991 in the Virginia Beach Public Schools (Virginia). These efforts are based on a resolution adopted by the school board in December 1991, which supported the implementation of school-based management and shared decision making. Several common restructuring themes were shared by…

Policy and program options for economic revitalization in the Southeast region of the United States through educational reform, with a focus on improving the learning experiences of middle-range high school students (30th to 70th percentile on standardized tests), are discussed. The study examined the ways in which state and local school districts…

This state education plan is designed to improve the effectiveness and quality of the educational experiences of all students in Minnesota. Across-the-board improvements and major reforms in policies, programs, and practices are needed to restructure the way schools operate, children are taught, and parents and community members are involved in…

This book is a case study of the Chicago (Illinois) Public Schools 1980s reform movement imposed from the outside through legislation. The first chapter describes why school reform was necessary in Chicago. Chapter 2 focuses on a single high school in that system and shows the difficulties in trying to improve its performance. Chapter 3 describes…

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…

Following the Kentucky Supreme Court's 1989 ruling that declared the state's common school system unconstitutional, lawyers and educators sued the state legislature for failure to provide an efficient school system. The role of litigation and lawyers in Kentucky education reform is examined in this paper. Part 1 describes how a group of lawyers…

General guidelines for companies interested in supporting school-based restructuring are offered in this booklet. Following a brief review of the nature and types of partnerships, chapter 2 examines partnerships within the context of school restructuring outcomes and identifies some essential components for developing a reform-model partnership.…

The nation's Governors resolved to lead restructuring efforts in their states as part of their commitment to achieve the national education goals by the year 2000. States are experimenting with a range of approaches to restructuring, depending on their resources, demographics, governance structures, and traditions. This report describes states'…

The major purposes of the School Improvement Resources Inquiry USA project (SIRIUS-A project) are to identify schools throughout the country, that are restructuring; to identify the kinds of structural changes being implemented; and to identify the kinds of change processes being used to plan and implement the restructuring. Some of the 62 schools…