Schools across the nation are experimenting with new forms of decision-making intended to facilitate the restructuring process. To discover whether two of these new forms--school governance groups and formal affiliation with a restructuring movement--affect traditional patterns of influence and authority, the Indiana Education Policy Center School…

Teacher educators and teachers must be leaders in developing learner-centered standards for preparing teachers. Standards can help teachers build their own knowledge and understanding of what helps students learn. As schools undergo restructuring, teachers will be responsible for students, not just subject-matter information; for understanding how…

The paper advocates a closer working relationship between classroom teachers and the university faculty in the following areas: (1) teacher preparation for the classroom at the undergraduate level; (2) revision of some of the graduate training in history to focus more on pedagogical concerns, along with the content of history; (3) greater…

This collection of 21 papers delivered by university professors and other representatives from throughout the United States focuses on economics teaching in the classroom from a variety of perspectives. The papers include: (1) "Internationalizing the Curriculum: The United States in a Global Economy: International Issues for the Beginning Student"…

This paper examines the ways in which private- and public-sector location affects organizational structure and functions, and the implications for school reform. It identifies the differences that are often overlooked when policymakers utilize market-based organizational reform models to address public school problems. Two fundamental questions…

States are in the leadership position to effect pervasive and comprehensive changes needed in the educational system. There exist five key dimensions for analyzing initiatives resulting in systemic changes: (1) infusiveness, building upon existing knowledge; (2) pervasiveness, effecting improvements in all key components of the system, including…

The restructuring movement is seen as the best way to reform and revitalize education. Restructuring is making individual schools the focus of change and empowering those closest to students with the responsibility and authority to effect changes responsive to student needs. This publication concentrates on teachers' and principals' roles as the…

The success of educational restructuring depends on the quality of leadership exhibited by school administrators. A method to help administrators develop an achievable educational vision is presented in this paper, which focuses on developing strategies for actualizing an organizational vision statement. After a vision is designed, collaboration…

Through a synthesis of ongoing case studies covering over 500 schools, this report highlights the story of school reform in the Chicago Public Schools (Illinois) at the elementary school level. The analysis draws on a case-study syntheses of field research over the past 3 years, new analyses of survey data from principals and teachers, and…

The Accelerated Schools program is a popular school restructuring model that targets at-risk students. To serve at-risk students better under the Accelerated Schools program, schools must establish a governance program in which cadres of school practitioners and community members become involved in the decision making. Decisions of these cadres…

This paper describes a design for a public school academy, the Louisiana Leadership Academy, which provides a total immersion environment primarily for youth from disadvantaged backgrounds. Success is contingent upon choice and community support. Objectives are to: (1) build self-discipline and self-respect; (2) raise up leaders who will transform…

This paper presents data from two in-depth studies to illustrate the importance of community involvement and staff development for improving schools. The first case study describes how community political action in a school district in southwestern Ohio spurred school reform. In "Riverside," a pseudonym, the black community sought to…

This paper focuses on the instructional leadership role behavior of school principals in relation to the management of special education programs. A framework is presented of the principal's role in seven broad areas of instructional management: community, beliefs and experience, institutional context, principal's routine behaviors, instructional…

This paper examines the role of the school board as a player in school "restructuring." Defining restructuring as the transformation of schools into equitable learning environments, this paper examines whether school boards have a leadership role in restructuring. Data were derived from a literature review, a questionnaire of individual board…

This paper examines the role played by educational reform (as advocated by economic rationalism) in the economic destruction of Australian society. It is argued that two mechanisms for containing economic difficulties are the plundering of the nation state and the application of new technologies of production. Strategies of educational reform, as…