This paper summarizes an ethnohistorical study of the way in which a medium-sized suburban school district's implementation of site-based, shared decision making interacted with attitudes and procedures created by earlier district reforms. A second focus is on how the adoption of a new curriculum framework, based on a whole-language philosophy and…

The comprehensive categories of values, and the values in each category, to be articulated and consented to by stakeholders in school restructuring are explored through a qualitative case-study approach. A public elementary school that had approximately 530 students and that was undergoing restructuring was selected. Site visits, document reviews,…

The presently used school calendar is based in early agrarian society when children were needed as summer farm labor. Because the needs of the United States have changed, the school year format should be reconsidered. Year-round education (YRE) includes any change made in the school calendar that reorganizes the standard 180 day school year,…

Developed as a guide for school leaders faced with the task of restructuring a school, this guide is a comprehensive look at the notions of restructuring and reform. It provides a comprehensive definition of restructuring, three outstanding representative examples, and a systematic process for implementing and managing change. Written to provide…

This paper describes conditions that enhance planned change efforts in rural secondary schools. The following six conditions are vital to school improvement efforts: (1) teacher commitment; (2) a common understanding of research on best practices; (3) collaborative planning; (4) an egalitarian approach; (5) peer leadership; and (6) support from…

Schools and business must unite to make all the changes needed to ensure the success of all children. Social change, particularly the increase in single-parent families, has resulted in more children being born at risk of school failure. Most early childhood education reform initiatives have been piecemeal and have lacked a true understanding of…

The school district decentralization process is described in this guidebook, which focuses on the administrator's role in implementation. Three chapters are organized around the three phases of decentralization--exploration, trial, and commitment. Each phase is examined in terms of the real-life experiences of administrators and other…

Three leadership imperatives for school board members in school reform are presented in this paper. The imperatives are linked to specific challenges confronting the public school system, which include collective bargaining, student testing, and cultural diversity. Each is discussed and related to a legislative school board action that determines…

This book relies on three categories (visions, contexts, and roles) to explore school renewal as promulgated by participants in the National Education Association's Mastery in Learning Project. Following MIL Project Director Robert McClure's introduction covering participants' collegiality-building experiences, the "Visions" section…

This collection of 16 reports asserts that at-risk students are best served by extensive modifications of schools, or "restructuring." Successful restructuring must include a comprehensive approach to changing the educational environment and have a critical impact on students and teachers, the largest of the school constituencies. Section 1,…

Recent changes in and issues related to political authority and educational policy, specifically, decentralization and school responsibility, are examined in this paper. The following concerns are discussed: new administrative structures for states and municipalities; allocation of block grants; political and professional control of goals,…

The strengths and weaknesses of school-business partnerships and the need for more corporate assertiveness in the public policy area are the subjects of this paper, which is an adaption of a speech given on November 1987 to the St. Paul, Minnesota Compact Conference. The business community has two contrasting views of public education. One view is…

Education is important because it directly affects our social quality of life, individual opportunities, national economic competitiveness, and other dimensions of life. Unfortunately, the true value of education is often only recognized by its absence. Although economic competitiveness is only one byproduct of national education quality, it does…

This two-part document reports on the summative, district-level evaluation of 33 Dade County (Florida) schools that participated in a 3-year pilot School-Based-Management/Shared Decision-Making (SBM/SDM) program, and describes the operation and impact of selected innovations operating in some of the schools. Evaluation information was drawn from…

This evaluation of the 1988-89 Public Private Partnership (PPP) program in Washington (District of Columbia) was seriously limited by the unavailability of statistical data on student progress and internship performance. PPP was designed to improve the preparation of high school students for the world of work by involving community businesses in…