This paper offers an analysis of the "theories of action" embedded in reconstitution reforms. Reconstitution is a reform strategy in which all, or a large percentage, of a school's incumbent administrators and teachers are replaced with educators presumed to be more capable and committed. The report is based on evidence acquired from a…

This book is a practical resource to help teachers make schools "intelligent organizations" that can synthesize different kinds of knowledge, experience, and ideas to improve schools. Chapters set forth key messages on school effectiveness, school improvement, teaching, and learning. The chapters are: (1) "Improving the Effectiveness of Schools";…

This paper examines Breaking Ranks, a proposal for school reform and restructuring intended to improve the effectiveness of America's high schools. The review drew upon memo writing, a personal interview with an administrator utilizing the Breaking Ranks blueprint, a review of periodicals and books on Breaking Ranks and on school restructuring, a…

This handbook is designed to help school staff members and others broaden their view of assessment and put assessment into the broader context of school restructuring while keeping the focus on students. The handbook is arranged in sections, each dealing with a separate topic. Each section contains a number of papers by different authors that…

This paper presents a summary of state and local restructuring efforts in a single district: the Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS). State and experiences with restructuring persistently low-performing schools provide practical information to other state and district leaders charged with the task of restructuring schools under NCLB.

Reviews elementary and secondary school leadership developments for the decade preceding Britain's 1988 Education Reform Act and during the 1990s. Summarizes major themes, including headteachers' central importance, shared leadership issues, the changing character of heads' professional and entrepreneurial leadership, heads' change-agent role,…

Examines the nature and dimensions of reengineering. Draws on reengineering's business background to explain the concept's key principles; fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of processes; concentration on business processes, not organizational units; and dramatically improved performance. Shows how the educational reform/restructuring…

Although works on specific restructuring initiatives are prevalent, few focus on meaning and organizational implications inherent in American restructuring efforts. Motivated by scarcity of conceptual literature, this article aims to provide researchers and practitioners with a framework for thinking about restructuring process in educational…

Explores the assumption that teachers want to participate in schoolwide decision making by constructing a typology of teachers. Characterizes four types of teachers: empowered, disenfranchised, involved (those that do not want to participate, but do), and disengaged. Analysis of teachers' differences and similarities on demographic and attitudinal…

The Tri-State Initiative is a collaboration for service learning linking the Iowa Department of Education; Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning; and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Six demonstration schools are restructuring using service learning methodology. (SK)

In the 1920s and the 1960s-1970s, educational reform movements in France attempted to democratize elitist selection for higher education. School restructuring was influenced by issues of class but not gender. Today, gender equity in schools remains hampered by the patriarchal nature of the educational bureaucracy. (SK)

A study of "excellent" teachers in four districts found that high school classes with higher achieving students had better instructional support and that teachers deemed excellent were not necessarily practicing state-of-the-art techniques. Correlates of effective teaching were subject-matter confidence, high-quality explanations,…

Discusses research in three Australian secondary schools planning to implement school-based decision-making and planning procedures as part of a "corporate-managerialist" restructuring program. Results showed that secondary schools are open social systems comprised of complex relationship patterns. A unitary view of secondary schools is…

Examined the connections between the new governance in education and new procedures of social exclusion and inclusion in Finland using data from many sources and focusing on the emergence of a new discursive formation. Outlines a new system of reason as a historical shift of responsibilities in the national education system. (SLD)

Examines data from four secondary schools struggling to develop and implement authentic learning and assessment over a three-year period. The schools did not succeed due to several interrelated factors: lack of foundational knowledge, the dominance of privacy and classroom autonomy norms, teacher time and student control issues, efficacy issues,…