This paper discusses the effective restructuring of schools to accommodate at-risk children. Broadly, it addresses some issues of school structure and management for meeting the educational needs of this large and increasing group of students. Specifically, it defines and analyzes effectiveness within the accelerated schools model developed by…

The first of a projected series of three studies addressing the differing organizational contexts of the special education director's work and the resulting consequences, this investigation examined the work of a special education director in a "staff" position with respect to the consequences to the district at this organizational…

This book promotes use of the microcomputer in schools as a school-wide resource, with applications across the entire curriculum, rather than as the specialized tool of only one subject area. It suggests ideal within-school organization and management so as to facilitate this role and considers the immediate and long-term implications of the…

Meaningful and useful evaluations of teaching and teachers must not only identify and define all the mitigating contexts, but must also account for their influences, both constructive and negative. Among the contextual factors that need to be considered in planning teacher evaluations are: student characteristics; goals, objectives and curriculum…

Some of the justifiable criticisms of our educational system are due to the inadequacy of the current educational structure for our information society, and the inability of the current system to motivate students to learn. An alternative structure would involve the use of teachers as educational guides, with parents choosing a guide based on…

This document examines recent state school reform efforts from two perspectives: the strategies states adopt to improve educational excellence and the influence those strategies have on the functional dimensions of education policy. The paper reports the research findings of a study that examined state reform strategies nationally. The study…

Collaboration as a strategy to improve the instructional effectiveness of a school's faculty is examined in this bulletin. The first of four chapters provides a brief discussion of teacher isolation and its consequences and the positive effects of collaboration on school renewal, teacher satisfaction, teacher learning, cooperation among students,…

The first report of an ongoing case study examining the impact of using a laboratory of microcomputers as a tool for teaching science and social science courses in a high school, this paper reports on a sociological investigation of the organizational change in the structure and functioning of the school brought about by the introduction of the…

Although there is controversy as to whether middle-level education should be more comparable to high school or to elementary school, this paper argues that the school within a school (SWAS) concept effectively makes large schools seem small so that they have more in common with a typical K-5 school than with a grade-10-through-12 high school. The…

This digest discusses the issue of school-based management (SBM), defined as a system of administration in which the school is the primary unit of educational decision making. Responsibility for certain decisions about the budget, personnel, and the curriculum is placed at the school level rather than the district level. Several aspects of SBM are…

This study addresses the issue of how different school organizational patterns affect the academic learning of students of different backgrounds and abilities. Using data from the Pennsylvania Educational Quality Assessment (EQA) on approximately 8,000 sixth-grade students in elementary and middle schools, the study examines how instructional…

To compile information on state and school district standardized testing programs, a survey instrument was designed and sent to 135 members of the National Association of Test Directors (NATD). Seventy responses (52%) were received in time to be included in the compilation. Most participating school districts (n=61, 87%) had a program mandated by…

There is a need for a common educational core to satisfy the requirements for reproducing a democratic society. Although historically the common schools were couched in the rhetoric of a common educational experience, democratic localism tended to undermine the commonality through a large number of antidemocratic practices. However, recent decades…

Provision for postsecondary higher education in Wales, the nature of the Welsh system, and future concerns are discussed. The roles of the Welsh Office and the Welsh Joint Education Committee contrast greatly with central organizations in England. There is one university in Wales, comprising seven constituent colleges. Additional institutions in…

Due to inconclusive data, inconsistent findings, and a lack of relevant empirical studies, no definite conclusions could be drawn in this research review of school grade organization effects. The review specifically sought research that could illuminate the effects of elementary and middle school grade organization on student achievement, parent…