Describes the Fund for New York City Public Education, established by foundation and business leaders, which increases and channels community concern about education toward lasting improvements in the New York City school system. Its priorities include comprehensive school restructuring, professional development and incentives, school community…

Schools cannot solve society's ills, but they can be held accountable for teaching academic subjects and developing thinking skills. Parents and teachers must be integral parts of any planned reforms. Excellence in urban schools is achieved by focusing on academic achievement, encouraging parent involvement, and professional renewal. (SLD)

Restructuring is changing the system of rules, roles, and relationships that govern the use of time, people, space, knowledge, and technology. The teacher's new role is inventing engaging work. The school board's role is educating the community about school conditions. The superintendent's role is influencing stakeholder decision making. Without…

Reviews 1993 activities of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), including conferences, training programs, and position papers and lists current concerns, including school restructuring, literacy, certification competencies, outcomes-based education, cultural diversity, students at risk, and technology. (KRN)

Advocates the use of social reconstructionist theory to create change that provides diversity among teachers. The article explains the importance of social reconstructionist education; analyzes oppression in teacher education; and discusses how to change the faces of teacher education, link home and school cultures, and offer diversity within…

Discusses one example of successful school restructuring by means of an examination of California's Bowling Green Elementary School. Key contributing elements discussed are having a low student-to-teacher ratio; using integrated thematic instruction; developing an efficacy approach; mastering adopted standards; and developing site-based decision…

Examines the success of two Massachusetts charter schools in educating at-risk students. The author compares the history, organizational structure and governance, graduation success, enrollment levels, and student composition of each school. (GLR)

Urges that teachers be allowed to play a more active role in school restructuring. Argues that democratic ideals cannot be taught by a school system that is not run democratically. Insists that proponents of restructuring and educational renewal must see as central the teachers' control over professional affairs. (DK)

Court and legislative challenges and financial crisis have hampered the first years of implementation of the Chicago (Illinois) School Reform Act of 1988. At the local level, school councils performed variously. Overall, evaluation of the act's success or failure will be conducted at the local level in individual schools. (JB)

Seven chapters exhibit some of the viewpoints occurring in discussions of educational restructuring or redesign. Most of the writers assert that schools cannot meet growth and quality requirements if they continue to operate within the framework of existing operating practices. Dramatic systemwide delivery improvements must be demanded. (SLD)

Following a literature review, this article offers a model of staff development including multiple demonstrations of innovations, opportunities for practice in the training setting; and coaching to facilitate transfer and integration. Application of the model in a low-income, low-achievement school and implications for the Regular Education…

Project Achieve, New York City's new dropout prevention program, might benefit from the failures of the city's earlier Dropout Prevention Initiative. Project Achieve will organize all ninth and tenth grade students into houses, integrate support and academic staff, and achieve maximum personnel continuity throughout a student's high school career.…

Discusses authentic assessment and its possible uses in school libraries. Highlights include restructuring and authentic schools; authentic assessment techniques; motivation; increasing thinking skills; creative research products; roles of the library media specialist in authentic assessment; and an appendix with seven annotated curriculum…

Under the Kentucky Education Reform Act, Kentucky has redesigned curricular policies and instructional practices and has set in motion a process for restructuring teacher education by defining new standards for effective teaching and new requirements for certification. Guiding principles to prepare a teaching force able to implement school reform…

Describes an open-format laboratory school housed on the campus of Manakato University in Minnesota that was the antithesis of dominant schooling patterns in 1968. Wilson Campus School practiced early forms of authentic assessment, participative decision making, cooperative learning, nongraded student grouping, multicultural education, and…