When created and operated appropriately, school-site councils can be a very useful component of school renewal. Councils are difficult to create, since members must shift roles, compromise strongly held beliefs, and invest considerable time, energy, and know-how. Advantages of group decision making are bringing diverse experience and expertise to…

Designs for Change is a multiracial research and advocacy group with a commitment to understanding why large urban school systems fail and what can be done about it. After 5 years of study, Designs for Change reached the conclusion that parent organizing and advocacy would not be sufficient to change the problems of Chicago (Illinois) schools…

This theme issue on talent development in students who are gifted or have special talents contains several feature articles, editorials, and a calendar of events. Articles have the following titles and authors: "Talent Development in Education" (John F. Feldhusen) proposes four domains for fostering talent in all youth:…

Higher education institutions and systems must change to respond to the demands of a more complex era. Increased demand for education, continuing decreases in available funds to support institutions, rising costs, and questions about the quality of higher education suggest that the current system is inadequate. Much of the shape of higher…

Schools must change to meet the demands of an increasingly diverse population of children, many of whom are at risk of leaving school unprepared for a productive adult life. Research-based evidence indicates that the process of change has been a neglected area in policy implementation. The key factor is "facilitative leadership,"…

Despite current interest with the concept of the "New American School" model discussed in "America 2000," school systems continue to approach educational reform and restructuring by tinkering with key organizational components in isolation. The total school organization requires assessment and profiling to determine which key components are drags…

The Accelerated Schools model attempts to restructure schools with high at-risk student populations and mainstream these students by the end of elementary school. A 6-year process of collaborative unity is used to identify challenge areas and move the school toward individualized solutions. The Accelerated Schools Satellite Center Project emerged…

Outcomes of the Orchard Plan, an experiment designed to reorganize funding to support new models of instructional delivery, are described in this report. Basic elements of the program include an extended school calendar; a reorganization of categorical funding into intersession enrichment courses for at-risk students; a reduction in class size…

After clarifying the meaning of restructuring through an analysis of the current educational paradigm, this document begins by differentiating between educational reform and restructuring and, similarly, between educational evolution and revolution. Paradigms are defined along with Kuhn's (1962) concept of the "paradigm shift." Clarifying,…

In September, 1989, the President and the nation's governors held what they called an "Education Summit" in Charlottesville, Virginia. They declared that they would establish national goals for education. Following the summit, a communique was issued listing goals in seven areas: (1) the readiness of children to start school; (2)…

A consensus on the need for reform in U.S. education has been growing for some time. For the continuing debate to produce effective solutions, the needs of girls, particularly minority girls, must be attended to in this debate and incorporated into plans for restructuring the system. This issue brief presents an overview of the aspects of school…

The United States is in the midst of a school reform movement of unprecedented dimensions, and many educators have felt a need to focus not just on the process but on the purpose of the educational enterprise--the purpose which the reforms are intended to accomplish. A conference, attended by more than 1,100 educators and other interested people,…

This report discusses national trends in achieving excellence in public education. Although graduation rates have improved greatly since the late 1940s and early 1950s, school restructuring is necessary if the basic skills of the nation's youth are to be improved sufficiently to meet the economic challenges of the 1990s. State governors are…

The effective implementation of school redesign, based on a social systems approach, is discussed in this paper. A basic assumption is that the interdependence of system elements has implications for a complex change process. Seven barriers to redesign and five critical issues for successful redesign strategy are presented. Seven linear steps for…

School reform efforts may prove ephemeral without changes in the teaching occupation. The field lacks professional discretion, career advancement, and adequate compensation. As a result, the profession fails to attract enough educationally qualified people. Experiments in changing teacher work roles are being done to try and fill this shortage.…