This "ERIC Digest" considers the U.S. charter-school movement, which has produced about 800 schools in half the states and enrolls over 100,000 students. Charter schools reflect founders' varied philosophies and commit to achieve certain educational outcomes within a certain period, in exchange for waiving many restrictive regulations.…

This technical aid packet consists of four sections. The introduction, "Why Use Volunteers," concedes that volunteers are not the answer to the fact that schools have too few resources to do the big jobs they face, but it argues that volunteers can play an important role in helping schools do much more to address barriers to learning. The second…

The paper looks at traditional curriculum implementation strategies, claiming that they have been divided into two polarized perspectives: fidelity implementation and adaptive implementation. These two implementation perspectives have dominated contemporary curriculum textbooks. The paper suggests that curriculum implementation as a field of study…

This paper summarizes activities associated with school-improvement projects in 12 Louisiana School Effectiveness and Assistance Pilot Study (SEAP) Cohort One schools during school year 1997-98 and plans for future improvement activities in 1998-99. Faculty and administrators at each school were asked to revise their current school-improvement…

Over the past few years, charter schools have received dramatic popular support. An overview of charter schools, including the arguments of their supporters and critics, is presented in this report. The text presents assumptions about the charter movement and discusses their strengths and weaknesses through a research-based synthesis. Advocates of…

An overview of school-based management (SBM) and the issues involved are provided in this document. Information is offered on the following topics: the advantages and liabilities of SBM; its effect on the roles of the school board, superintendent, and district office; decision-making processes; elements of SBM implementation; examples of three…

Findings from a study that examined the role of the principal and effects of the principal's change facilitator style (CFS) on the institutionalization of intervention programs are presented in this paper. Subjects were 13 principals involved in Project Link, a Pennsylvania-granted collaborative project to train prereferral child study teams.…

Although the writing-across-the-curriculum (WAC) movement has grown to be one of the most successful education reform movements in the United States, long-term strategies for sustaining WAC programs are needed and they must include recognizing and using context as a survival tool. Writing across the Business Disciplines (WABD) was started at…

In June, 1985, New Zealand's Minister of Education established a working party to examine 3-year training for kindergarten teachers. The working party was asked to: (1) make recommendations to the Minister of Education on a 3-year course of initial training for kindergarten teachers; (2) review the training provisions for kindergarten teachers;…

The Puerto Rico Nursing Career Cooperative Demonstration Project and Associate Nursing Program provided education and onsite occupational training laboratory to upgrade the education of 20 licensed practical nurses (LPNs) from 1989-90. The nurses were upgraded to associate nurses in an 18-month period at the Technological Institute of Puerto Rico.…

Suggesting that Reading Recovery belongs on the restructuring agenda of American education, this booklet introduces educators and others to how Reading Recovery works, how teachers are trained to use the program, and how it can be implemented in a school or district. Sections of the booklet are: Introduction; Overview of Reading Recovery; How…

Findings of a study that identified time management strategies used by schools involved in restructuring to address the problem of time are presented in this paper, which is based on the assertion that school faculties need time to restructure while implementing new programs. Methodology involved a survey of 31 schools and 14 school districts that…

This handbook documents the Prison Literacy Project (PLP) in order to provide a model for other community groups to follow in developing their own literacy projects. The PLP worked to have prison residents learn to read or significantly raise their reading levels through an ongoing literacy tutoring program. All project participants were involved…

The Texas technology education curriculum model was developed in a group effort spread over 20 years. The curriculum development team, which included representatives of the state education department, industrial arts teachers, and foundation representatives, set program standards, updated the curriculum by integrating a technological approach,…

Issues in the implementation of peer coaching, a collaborative process for teacher improvement, are examined in this booklet. Included are a definition of peer coaching; a discussion of a variety of peer coaching activities; an outline of specific observation, data collection, and conferencing strategies; guidelines for designing a site-based peer…