Analyzes the scheduling process in four San Francisco Bay Area high schools as a study of stratification. Finds that the processing of clients takes precedence over the delivery of educational services, especially for the less advantaged. (DM)

Students can activate their minds in a school envisioned as firm (a disciplined production system featuring high production workers); family (a caring, supportive social network of concerned adults and respectful students); fair (a community celebrating participants' best work); and forum (a public meeting place of open dialogue and inquiry).…

The learning organization learns continually and has the capacity to transform itself. This article presents a model addressing three levels of interrelated learning (individual, team, and organizational) and discusses seven action imperatives. Creating continuous learning opportunities, promoting dialog and inquiry, and building teams are vital…

A nationwide study of 500 schools showed that attending an effectively organized high school is worth an extra year's achievement over the course of one's high-school career. Only student aptitude trumped school organization as an achievement influence. Productive schools stress sound planning, people and program development, and accountability.…

Before diving into a change effort, principals should involve others in surveying the landscape, assessing the school's strengths, and identifying those responsible for past successes. Principals must then adopt an attitude of increased expectations; allow for comprehensive, meaningful planning; and commit to a continuous-improvement process. (MLH)

Discusses the differences between applications of interdisciplinary philosophy to school organization and to curriculum. Details organizational and curricular arrangements, notes that the two organizational arrangements can support any of the curricular arrangements, but that the term "interdisciplinary" means one thing when it modifies school…

Three-dimensional model building can help superintendents understand and monitor alternative perceptions of the school organization. Using simple models to depict district leadership or supervision plans (using nails in a board or other simple materials) can bring tangible meaning to abstract visions. (MLH)

This paper presents the results of a two-year qualitative inquiry, carried out in Spain, on a rather neglected side of external support to schools: the personal and professional experience of external support agents when they go back to teaching. These ex-advisers are career teachers who return 'home' to school after having left it to serve for…

The article raises issues about the current direction of the field of educational leadership and management. It argues that we should consider a re-orientation of the field in order to renew its concern with ideas connected with organization, which include viewing organizations as complex adaptive systems and taking an institutional perspective.…

Anthony Bryk is president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Previously, he held the Spencer Chair in Organizational Studies in the School of Education and the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University as well as the Marshall Field IV Professor of Urban Education and Sociology at the University of Chicago. Dr.…

This review aims to demonstrate that a great deal of a school's success depends on which areas of school life the educational leader chooses to spend time and attention on. It calls for more research and policy attention to be given to the career paths of school principals in order to meet the challenge of identifying and developing the next…

This dissertation explores the formal theologies and organizational readiness for change with a view towards adopting missional prototypes for theological education across a school's (system's) tradition, curriculum, and structure. The research assessed five theological schools in the United States through an exploratory, action-oriented,…

This study outlines a descriptive theory that seeks to grasp the complexity of the school as a state and societal institution as well as single schools as organizations. A significant characteristic of this complexity is the ambiguity of the missions and goals--the outer boundaries--of the school-institution. The more institutional ambiguity that…

In this paper, we present data from an evaluation of the educational impact of a school breakfast program implemented in rural schools in Peru. The results showed positive effects on school attendance and dropout rates, and a differential effect of the breakfast program on multiple-grade and full-grade schools. Particularly in multiple-grade…

This article describes a new supervision model conceived to help a school system redesign its anatomy (structures), physiology (flow of information and webs of relationships), and psychology (beliefs and values). The new paradigm (Knowledge Work Supervision) was constructed by reviewing the practices of several interrelated areas: sociotechnical…