An ethnographic study was conducted of the first year of implementation of the Accelerated Schools Project in a pilot middle school. The interaction between intervention and the existing school culture is studied through multiple interviews with teachers, support staff, administrators, students, and parents as well as observation and review of…

This study describes two phases of the planning of a professional development center for teaching and teacher education, utilizing a reflective and collaborative inquiry approach. Two themes guided the study: (1) the dissonance between teacher education and teaching; and (2) preparation of teachers to respond to the changing population of children…

The five commissioned papers in this anthology provided part of the research base for the national report, "National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent." In the first paper, "The Performance of High Ability Students in the United States on National and International Tests," Carolyn Callahan describes…

This paper, commissioned for the development of the national report, "National Excellence: A Case for Developing America's Talent," examines current state policies, regulations, and legislation concerning education programs for gifted and talented students. The paper also looks at other state policies which have a direct influence on the…

This monograph examines the term "full inclusion" as it pertains to students with severe disabilities; reviews the historical, legal, and policy bases for various models and systems; and considers the implications for policy change of various aspects of full inclusion models. An introductory section identifies key principles of most full inclusion…

Through its efforts in 12 middle schools in 5 cities, The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation's Program for Disadvantaged Youth is trying to challenge the assumption that certain children are uneducable. The first steps in this program were detailed in "Gaining Ground," which described the thoughts and hopes of educators in 1989 through 1991…

An ultimate purpose of education is human resource development to provide society with a critical mass of intellectual capital and competent workforces. To accomplish this end, leaders implement planning processes to guide policy-making, develop institutions, and allocate resources. Although new information technologies are becoming commonplace in…

This book is a response to the need to integrate the restructuring of educational institutions and the development of a unified educational system that includes students with special needs. It begins with a discussion of paradigms for restructuring, then proceeds to an extended discussion of several issues concerning the field of special…

Schools and school districts throughout the nation are developing and implementing educational programs designed to improve teaching, learning, and school management. This report provides a description of how schools and school districts in various parts of the country are developing and implementing improvement programs, based on their own…

Guidelines for central office staff and personnel involved in school-based management efforts are offered in this manual. Contents include an overview of school-based management and the functions of school site councils, suggestions for training designs, and nine training modules. Topics addressed in the module include: the roles and…

A historical overview and analysis of the decentralization process in Victoria, Australia, is the purpose of this paper. The case study illustrates the impact of conflict between political and administrative agendas on attempts to implement the government-initiated policy decision. The current two-tiered system is composed of central and local…

An alarming trend of low performance and legal problems dogged the Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS) in the early and mid-1990s. In 1997, the Maryland State Legislature adopted a law creating a partnership between the sate, city and BCPSS, creating a new Board of Commissioners to run the school district. Under this leadership, serious…

To ensure that school districts and schools meet acceptable performance levels, many school districts and states have enacted various accountability policies. Two of the most controversial approaches to accountability are reconstitutions of schools and state takeovers of school districts and schools. For each approach, this policy brief presents…

This document is a republication of the Aylesbury Report, first published and distributed almost secretly in 1981 as the result of an action research project in a large housing project (the Aylesbury Estate) in southeast London. The project offered employees of a local education authority the opportunity to question, criticize, and experiment with…

This volume features the reform journeys of six American high schools. The six high schools portrayed here include four large comprehensive high schools (Oakland Technical High in Oakland, California, and Brighton High in Boston, Massachusetts, are urban; Sir Francis Drake in Marin County, California, and Rex Putnam in North Clackamas, Oregon, are…