Several districts have taken a radical approach to middle/high school transitions, removing ninth-graders from the mix to give them the attention needed to succeed in high school. Three ninth-grade-only schools with 720 to 750 students in Virginia, Texas, and Pennsylvania are profiled. Students experience less social pressure from upper-classmen.…

For National Board certification to change teaching as a career, reformers must attend to accountability, monitoring, and quality-control concerns and demonstrate clearly how a staged career would attract and retain excellent teachers, revitalize pedagogy, strengthen instructional programs, and create more responsive schools. (Contains 44…

Analysis of 22 definitions of decentralization shows how they are encompassed in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's taxonomy. Data from 14 nations suggest that decentralization of instruction, planning, personnel management, and resource allocation and use has less effect on learning than do conditions in classrooms and…

Both the 1988 and 1999 editions of "Handbook of Research on Educational Administration" suggest that continuing dialogue about educational administration scholarship is warranted as conditions in schooling and society change. Handbook and "EAQ" editors asked several expert researchers to write articles about one or more…

This statewide study identified an association between the relative integration of instructional technology departments and information services departments with indicators of high technology performance in school districts. Discusses cultural integration between the two subcultures of information services and instructional technology, types of…

The shortage of school leaders, mainly caused by the growing complexity of the job is steadily growing in recent years. This study reports on the results of a comparative empirical study into the causes of premature departure for male and female principals in primary and secondary education. Principals who have experienced premature departure…

Seemingly endless tinkering and adjustment of the structure of education in the United States over the past century have led to the adoption of different school forms (grouping particular grades into separate schools) at different times. These different school forms necessitate transitions between schools (e.g., from a middle school to a high…

The differences among international schools have important educational and economic implications for international education. From a foundation of theory developed for the business world, this article examines ways in which school leaders can consciously differentiate their schools to improve the quality of education and better assure the fiscal…

A large proportion of teachers throughout the world teach in multigrade classrooms, or classes with more than one grade level. It is reliably predicted that the number of multigrade classes will increase in the future. This paper addresses the issue of teacher education for multigrade. The main thesis of this paper is that the professional…

One of the ultimate goals of policy makers is to enable citizens to take advantage of a globalised world economy. This is leading them to focus on the improvement of education policies, ensuring the quality of service provision, a more equitable distribution of learning opportunities and stronger incentives for greater efficiency in schooling.…

Single-sex education describes a diverse range of situations, including individual classes, programs after school, required programs, voluntary programs, and programs to remedy gender inequities and encourage cultural and racial pride. This brief addresses the genesis and legality of single-sex classrooms, the merits and critiques of single-sex…

Issues in restructuring education for meeting the needs of at-risk students are discussed in this paper. The six goals of restructuring are: (1) reduce the number of drop outs; (2) raise the level of achievement for all; (3) have business and education work together; (4) create schools which incorporate both social and educational services; (5)…

Five papers examine issues regarding the role of the assistant principal, with a focus on accountability in school reform and restructuring. The first paper, by George J. Michel, analyzes the leadership areas of the assistant principal and suggests methods to make the assistant principal accountable. The next four papers describe new models of…

The behaviorist world view, influential in many social-science disciplines, is challenged by theories of action. With steady developments in nonbehaviorist thinking and related social-action conceptions, the study of school organizational structure can be transformed into a field centered about the dynamics of individuals' practical actions. This…

The first year of school reform in Chicago was devoted to preparation for governance and the election of local school councils to serve in each school. The second year of school reform was devoted to continued preparation for governance and attempts to restructure classroom instruction. The importance of restructuring education to match how…