No U.S. school district is world class. Radical systemic reform must (1) recognize that learning in context works; (2) assert that noncollege careers have worth; (3) raise standards and expectations. Foundation skills needed include basic, thinking, personal, resource, interpersonal, information, technology, and systems. (SK)

Movements to restructure public education focus on the following perceived inadequacies: unequal funding, bureaucracy and control, failure to meet standards, and obsolete curriculum. Approaches to restructuring differ according to the values and educational preferences of the reformers. (SK)

To measure teacher involvement in decision-making, the authors developed Teacher Decision-Making Instrument, a 68-item survey with 8 categories. This instrument can be used for follow-up analyses and for comparisons between teacher and administrator responses. The Shared Education Decisions Survey is designed for use by members of school…

A school's reengineering must first make sense to the leadership team before being sold to a skeptical faculty. The principalship's real power lies in persuasion. The Six "I" Framework, a model to help principals argue persuasively for change, is based on interdisciplinary instruction, integrated instructional targets and assessment practices,…

Many Vietnamese parents do not understand their right and responsibility to participate in decision-making processes affecting their children's education. This article discusses the information dissemination, logistical support, authentic dialogue, and parental empowerment techniques crucial to ensuring the Vietnamese community's active role in…

School improvement literature focuses on the early stages of the change process and neglects actions to ensure its permanence. This article reviews research on institutionalization and the management of change in schools and develops a model for managing performance dips. Change facilitators must create administrative support and understanding,…

A chronic problem in quick visits to "innovative" schools is discerning whether something is happening. This article presents some guiding principles for recognizing the meanings, organizational structures, and effects of change. Accompanying School Restructuring Profile offers busy practitioners conceptual outline or set of "must sees" for…

The five key elements comprising any school organization may be described as structural, professional, renewal-oriented, curricular, and collaborative. School leaders committed to change must recognize three realities: (1) change is hard, even painful work; (2) the parts cannot be treated without treating the whole; and (3) reform starts at the…

Before "unstructuring" or "restructuring," a school or district or state should think first about students, adopt successful learning as the criterion for judging the appropriateness of all daily activities, expect all adults to be successful learners, and identify the rules, roles, and relationships (the social structure) needed to support…

Examines educational personnel preparation in the 1990s, noting the quality of students admitted to teacher education programs is higher than it has been for years. The article predicts fundamental changes in teacher preparation in the 1990s to foster planning efforts among teacher educators and encourage program change. (SM)

A group of 100 experts, backed by marketer Chris Whittle, will convene in January 1992 to invent a new, for-profit U.S. school. Whittle also plans to offer his proprietary school design to public schools and/or contract to administer schools or districts. Privatization benefits and concerns are debated. Sidebars profile Whittle and other education…

A San Jose (California) school district's voucher experiment illustrates the difficulty of implementing organizational and structural innovation in an education system. Successful implementation of technology-mediated education requires identification of the critical problem, negotiated decision making, component integration, authority and role…

"Turning Points," Carnegie's report on young adolescents, rejects small-scale, incremental school reform in favor of sweeping transformation. The report takes aim at twin targets: junior high schools that have not grappled with developmental appropriateness issues and middle schools that have developmentally appropriate forms, but have weakened…

South Carolina's Educational Improvement Act may be only one factor responsible for closed decision-making climates in most of the state's elementary schools, because "reforms" also occurred in curriculum development, methodology, teacher education, and evaluation. With the deregulation movement gaining speed, the time is ripe for…

Recent state reform waves can be classified into three packages (academic standards, professional policy, and curriculum development) stressing productivity, efficiency, and educational excellence. Following a historical overview, this article discusses implementation models and strategies, lessons learned, state-local school district…