A charter school is a public educational entity that operates under a charter or contract negotiated between the organizers, who design and run the school, and an organization that holds the school accountable based on charter provisions. Most charter schools are elementary schools with smaller than average populations; many serve disadvantaged…

This guide presents research-based practices and elements that are essential to effective systemic reform, especially as such reform relates to the needs, challenges, and context of urban schools. It is designed to enable school leadership teams to develop, review, and revise school plans that focus on the elements of effective educational…

This paper analyzes educational finance reforms initiated in Ontario. It outlines the changes in governance, funding, and curriculum and states that reforms were implemented without proper support and forethought, resulting in chaos. The report details how the rise of a conservative government in the province led to a desire to reduce taxation and…

The study of "Functional Planning of Elementary School Buildings" is a cooperative piece of work carried to completion by the Office of Education with very generous assistance from the National Advisory Council on School Building Problems. The Office is under deep obligation to the National Advisory Council for the time and thought which the…

Describes the implementation of an internal change team by the Buffalo, New York, public school district, including stages of growth, outcomes of interventions, difficulties encountered, and lessons that appear transferable to other school settings. Results indicate that, after three years, the effort is apparently having a positive effect.…

Illuminates the changes and consistencies in the management system of Tarrant County Junior Colleges during the 12-year history of this multicampus institution. Emphasizes the organization of central administration, the college communication and records system, college stores, and the Centralized Service Center. Underscores adaptability as…

This essay attempts to demonstrate that age segregation and subject matter specialization are two important supports of the authority of teachers and the school's ability to control students. Therefore, efforts to change these organizational patterns without considering alternative means of establishing control are doomed to failure. (Author/SJL)

A survey of Australian students, grades 7-12, is designed, implemented and discussed. Both the 1972 and 1977 surveys favored separate institutions: a compulsory high school for grades 7-10 and a secondary college for students who voluntarily continued to grades 11-12. (RL)

This paper discusses the difficulties that rural and small urban communities are facing in resisting attempts to consolidate their schools into larger districts. (BE)

This paper describes and analyzes the political and organizational effects of school consolidation in Arlington. Existing research on consolidation is criticized and new directions for inquiry are suggested. (Author/EB)

Discusses: (1) David Hawkins' theory that humans are equal, free, and rational; (2) the kinds of curricular, methodological, and administrative changes required by schools in order to bring about equality, freedom, and rationality; and (3) application of the findings to the Four M (multilingual, multicultural, multimodal, and multidimensional)…

Educational organizations must harness forces within their own systems and in the larger environment that could stimulate changes that will make school systems viable learning systems. One way is to adopt organizational patterns and management concepts being developed by business, industry, and government. "Matrix" organizations are also…

This article presents five propositions for rethinking the role of teachers and the practice of teaching in the years ahead. The propositions are rooted in certain conditions of schooling and teaching and are proposed as a step toward making teaching as attractive a career as other lines of professional endeavor. (IAH)

The Dade County, Florida, school system selected 32 schools to participate in a pilot program for shared decision making. Evaluators found similar problems and solutions in a variety of school settings and classified them into 9 categories. (MLF)

Examines the historical context of the current Latin American educational crisis from the colonial era to the 1980s, comparing it to the educational investment undertaken by the Republic of Korea in a similar crisis. Calls for reform in state institutions, including a commitment to education, change in the economic model, and recognition of global…