New provisions in Title I, the federal government's largest elementary and secondary school program, encourage greater use of funds in high-poverty secondary schools. This handbook is the first of a two-volume series designed to support the implementation of the new Title I legislation. The volume describes an array of promising practices and…

New provisions in Title I, the federal government's largest elementary and secondary school program, encourage greater use of funds in high-poverty secondary schools. This handbook is the second of a two-volume series designed to support the implementation of the new Title I legislation. The volume illustrates how 13 middle and high schools have…

The relationship between school site culture and secondary school reform is examined in this paper, which focuses on high school teachers' impact on the implementation of school-based management. Traditional high school organization contains all the elements that stifle the development of a positive school culture: large staffs, academic…

This paper highlights three models for implementing local restructuring of schools: James Comer's School Development Program; Robert Slavin's Success for All; and Henry Levin's Accelerated Schools. These models have been among the more popular models for restructuring schools in poor, predominantly minority neighborhoods with traditionally…

Goals 2000: Educate America Act (P.L. 103-227) authorizes a range of initiatives for federal support of education reform. Its basic strategy is that of systemic reform guided by sets of agreed-upon educational goals and standards at each level of governance. An overview and analysis of the Act's basic provisions and authorizations is provided.…

This paper provides a historical perspective on the implementation of educational reform by the Thatcher government in England. Since 1979, and particularly since the Education Reform Act of 1988, the state educational system in England has undergone massive reform in the form of a national curriculum, increased school-based management, and the…

This book develops the notion that the only realistic solution to public schooling's current difficulties is to increase parental and student choice, deregulate schooling, and ultimately bring about the privatization of schools. The monograph demonstrates that public school systems fail because they ignore certain laws of human behavior, and…

Over the last 2 decades, education in Ontario, Canada, has undergone several changes, including an increased emphasis on process skills and the learning process itself. This paper presents findings of a study that examined the role of the secondary school department head in the change process, particularly in curriculum implementation, staff…

This document provides a compilation of information presented at the "Cause for Applause" conference sponsored by the Urban Education Network of the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) and the Chicago (Illinois) public schools. The first section, "Strategies for Urban School Improvement," describes programs…

This paper describes a longitudinal study of 10 racially mixed secondary schools across the country where the leadership decided to move toward reducing ability grouping or tracking in their school. Examples of the schools under study included an Appalachian school in a moderately-sized city and a wealthy suburban school of a large metropolitan…

This book is the culmination of extensive discussion among a panel of economists led by Eric A. Hanushek. The panel argues that improvement of schools depends more on better uses of resources than on the provision of added funds. The book outlines a plan to improve school performance without increasing expenditures. Specifically, it calls for more…

This publication presents 13 papers selected from a conference on school choice, which was designed to shed light on what is meant by school choice, what proposals are being advanced to achieve choice, and how various sections of the community view the issue. Following a preface and a list of participants in the conference, an essay by Christopher…

In the Teacher-to-Teacher series of the National Education Association's Professional Library, teachers speak directly to other teachers about school restructuring issues. This volume covers issues in student assessment, focusing on student portfolios and their uses in reflecting student processes, collaboration, and literacy. Various portfolios…

Issues pertinent to the positive and lasting reform of innercity school systems serving disadvantaged minority youth are explored in this paper. Current and past reforms to improve school effectiveness have dealt primarily with instructional deficiencies of the school. However, three clusters of problems must be addressed: institutional…

A staff development process that uses group-building activities to foster staff collegiality is described in this paper. As schools become involved in restructuring, cooperation and positive working relationships become more crucial for effective school teams involved in participative decision making. Five characteristics of group-building…