This book is comprised of six case studies that were commissioned by the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching (NCREST) at Teachers' College, Columbia University, New York City, New York. Five elementary and one middle school from Kentucky, Florida, Indiana, South Carolina, and Maine are represented. They present a…

As part of the Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement's (OERI) Studies in Education Reform Program, SRI's Center for Technology in Learning has been conducting a national study of the role of technology in supporting education reform, especially constructivist, student-centered teaching methods and instructional…

This paper argues that the student role has been overlooked in the educational-change literature. New definitions of student success imply new definitions of what being a student means. The paper argues that research studies and reform initiatives must consciously treat the issue of student-role change as seriously as they have adult-role change.…

Social reforms in American education are setting the stage for a paradigm shift in the delivery of psychological services in our nation's schools. The convergence of education and health care reform, along with movement toward service integration models, provides an unprecedented opportunity to redefine psychological services in schools. School…

System reform in U.S. heartland is the story of a decade-long effort to change the ways we think about children and youth who experience learning or behavior problems in educational settings. This fundamentally different way of thinking involves a shift from seeking the causes and solutions to learning and emotional/behavioral problems in inferred…

This interpretative study explored the view of how children construct knowledge as proposed by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) in its position paper "Developmentally Appropriate Practices in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8, Expanded Edition" (DAP-DOC) (Bredekamp,…

This paper describes and interprets the case of a middle school's first year of using interdisciplinary teacher teams as a key among several restructuring moves. It describes: (1) characteristics of the teaming process--leadership, decision making, professional growth and support of individual teachers, and cooperation, competition, and conflict…

During the last decade, the discovery that most voters believed that public schools were in need of improvement fueled the educational reform movement. This paper examines the public's role in education, with a focus on reasons for the public's failure to actively support educational reform. A review of recent surveys indicates that although most…

As part of the restructuring drive toward a developmentally appropriate curriculum, restructuring has begun to be implemented through a nongraded organizational structure. After Kentucky mandated a nongraded structure for primary education, the Tennessee General Assembly passed legislation to allow nongraded primary schools. The Tennessee…

The Accelerated Schools Project is based on the premise that all children can learn and can learn at high levels. It provides both a philosophy and a process for schools interested in making radical change. The philosophy is built on the following three principles: unity of purpose, empowerment coupled with responsibility, and building on…

This book tells the story of one year in the life of Jefferson Elementary School (pseudonym for a real school), which was selected to participate in the state's "School for the Twenty-first Century" program. The faculty and principal proposed to build a developmental community school based on the following components: whole language, cooperative…

Contemporary societies use schools and schooling to socialize their young and only by deliberate attention to the aesthetic quality of the experiences of learning will learning actually occur. Following the introductory chapter, chapter 2 describes how aesthetic quality in learning experience is dependent on establishing democratic social…

Education's loyalty to contemporary school organization has provoked wholesale student underachievement and a tragic subculture of youngsters at risk. This book proposes a model for school reform called Success Oriented Schools (SOS). Chapter 1 introduces the premise that schools will begin to educate all students when they strengthen wholesome…

In this book, educational scholars and practitioners examine school-restructuring processes, particularly those involved in site-based management. Following the introduction and overview by John J. Lane and Edgar G. Epps, part 1 examines concepts and theories that relate to school restructuring in general and to school-based management in…

This publication describes general conditions and problems affecting secondary education in Albania. Section 1 highlights the political, socioeconomic, and educational context of the country. Since World War II, Albania has experienced an increase in the number of students that was not matched by qualitative improvement necessary in a democractic…