This report contends that current university-based research and development activities investigating successful secondary schools provide an exceptional mechanism for coordinating all three aspects of assessing successful schools: legal compliance, student performance, and quality of school life. A typology of schools is proposed to account for…

This study sought to determine characteristics of schools and districts that enjoy the public's strong confidence and to explore how these characteristics are created and retained. A screening procedure produced useable data from 181 "high-confidence" public schools, 30 private schools, and 45 school districts. As part of a preliminary…

This paper evaluates whether both equality or equity and excellence can be achieved in the present Israeli junior high schools. While academic goals are high and are, at least to some extent, achieved, the goal of providing an equitable education for students of lower socio-economic backgrounds and different ethnic backgrounds is not achieved. In…

Public education is facing a crisis of major proportions, but the things that are basically wrong with schools are not those being emphasized in current proposals for change. This paper identifies two basic defects in the American system of public education: (1) there is too little attention to individual differences; and (2) there is too much…

Reports on the effect of external political pressure on the distribution of influence in school districts. Focuses specifically on the influence exercised by school-level administrators and teachers on school-level policy. Expounds on a theory of local variation across institutional organizations using the High School and Beyond study. (CFR)

Factors that contribute to excellence in education, as well as those that have contributed to the failure of change efforts, are the subject of this document. It provides a summary of the literature on reform efforts; effective schools; new organizational perspectives derived from the business sector; organizational restructuring being tested in…

The relationship between educational finance and organizational effectiveness or "health" in 50 Connecticut high schools was examined. Data were collected using existing organizational health questionnaires and archival data. A sample was randomly selected from the population of public high schools in Connecticut. Seven…

Beginning with a review of the increasing literature concerning job-related teacher stress, this study examines the particular stress and burnout experiences of school teachers in Venezuela since the incorporation by law in 1980 of "Educacion Basica" (basic education) as a new level of the school system (grades 1-9). To compare teachers…

This monograph presents four papers on the interaction of the market and higher education institutions in relation to the evolution of management and administrative patterns according to the requirements of new political and economic situations. In particular, the papers discuss the changes which a market ideology has brought to European higher…

This study investigated the relationship between school staff job satisfaction or morale and a number of organizational changes and practices occurring at the Portsmouth (New Hampshire) Junior High School. The issues under examination included homogeneous vs. heterogeneous grouping, class length, school-within-a-school or teaming, department…

This paper analyzes a research project that maps implementation efforts of comprehensive and mandated change at the primary school level in The Netherlands. In examining this large-scale national reform program, the report deals with schools whose innovation efforts acquired funding from the central education department in return for their local…

The study reported in this paper builds upon earlier research designed to examine issues associated with initiating an effective teacher evaluation effort and integrating it into district practices. The paper describes four districts which have made substantial progress in initiating and organizing teacher evaluation programs and presents the view…

This study documents the innovative utilization of resources in 16 exemplary schools and provides recommendations for staff deployment and school organization. Two introductory chapters place the report in the context of a wider study of which it is part and describe its conceptual framework. The following two chapters review the debate on case…

The Copernican Plan is a way to organize high schools on the basis of research and experience concerning more effective and efficient instruction. Research indicates that large-block scheduling has proven to be very successful. In the plan, each student will enroll in one class at a time for about 4 hours each day for a period of 30 days. An…

This survey project of 129 randomly selected school systems in Ontario, Canada, investigates: (1) dominant patterns among secondary principals' practices and their effectiveness in the improvement of school processes and outcomes; (2) differences in practices between elementary and secondary school principals; (3) factors determining secondary…