Excellence in education might best be achieved if a wide variety of educational options were made available to satisfy the broad diversity of student needs, if parents were allowed free choice among schools, and if parents, teachers, and principals worked together to make each school responsive to its unique constituency. (PGD)

Designed to aid school personnel considering school choice as a possible desegregation method, this booklet explains the principles of controlled choice, presents an overall plan and flow chart, and reviews the types of organizations that might be developed. Controlled choice is a desegregation method that is voluntary, empowers parents and school…

Reports on teacher, principal, parent, and student reactions to a desegregation plan implemented in Buffalo, New York, which permits teachers to choose the magnet schools in which they desire to teach and parents to select their children's schools. (GC)

Choice can potentially transform schooling if it is properly understood, carefully thought through, and implemented in stages. Genuine diversity means offering parents and students a range of educational options from preschool through high school. However, the U.S. currently spends more on one Stealth bomber than on all magnet school programs.…

Early desegregation efforts simply followed the authoritarian model predominant in American schools since the 1920s. As schools have become more democratic, however, so has the process of desegregating urban school systems. (GC)

Describes the production of a survey investigating what kinds of magnet schools parents and teachers want. Discusses: (1) the information sought; (2) pre-survey information-gathering and public discussion; (3) the creation of a citywide parent planning council; (4) constructing, conducting, and distributing parent and teacher surveys; and (5)…

This guide, second in a series of four volumes, offers a method of surveying parents' attitudes about choosing schools for their children and provides a survey instrument used over a period of 5 years in four Massachusetts urban school districts. Section 1 introduces the basic research questions pursued in the survey. Section 2, "The Parent…

Criticizes national education reports that call for a return to authoritarian schools in order to achieve excellence. Extolls the strengths and achievements for which magnet schools are responsible. (MD)

This document is the third in a series of handbooks designed to help educators who are considering controlled choice as a possible desegregation method. The document describes the educational philosophy, curriculum, teaching methods, school organization, and grading methods of traditionally organized schools. Four schools in the northeastern…

This fourth and final guide in a series of volumes addresses parents who desire assistance in selecting the appropriate school for their child. The guide provides narratives and "real life" descriptions of actual occurrences in schools that advertise themselves as emphasizing a particular style or philosophy of teaching or curricular…

This paper summarizes the major recommendations agreed on at a conference of parents, educational administrators, and educators from 21 school systems in five New England states. The subject of the conference was choice in public education. First, excerpts from opening remarks and a note on the conference are presented. Then, major recommendations…

Controlled choice is a method of desegregation that is voluntary, empowers parents and school staff, and leads to new and exciting school organization and curriculum. To move in the direction of controlled choice, substantial changes in present school organization and operation must be made. This planning guide, based upon the actual experiences…

A school superintendent describes the restructuring in his Springfield (Massachusetts) school district. The effort to desegregate from the perspectives of race, color, ethnic background, and gender has involved organizational, pedagogical, social, attitudinal, and political transformation. Emphasis is given to the district's choice system. (SLD)

Our present factory-model educational system, now desperately undergoing "restructuring," was never intended as a social equalizer but as a great American academic and social sorting machine. The archaic, restrictive goals of America 2000 are doomed, along with narrowly defined intelligence quotients. A more revolutionary, restructuring…

There has been much recent debate in both educational and political circles about the utility of choice as a means of improving the educational system. This book argues that any discussion of choice must address choice in public schools. The book is organized into seven chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of choice in public education,…