In this speech, the author considers how the authority dimension of school organization may be related to students' lack of attention to long-range goals and to some of their motivational problems in the classroom. First, the author reviews how the distinction between short-run and long-run returns is similar to familiar distinctions made by…

This paper examines school productivity research--research regarding school effects on students, divided into two broad classes according to whether the dependent variable is (a) later life consequences or (b) immediate student outcomes. The discussion is organized in four sections. First, six major issues in the methodology of school productivity…

A model is presented for studying how schools provide instruction to students. A major function of the National Center for Education Statistics is to collect data for understanding and improving how schools provide instruction. The model describes school factors (characteristics, staffing, organization, policy, and student evaluation); classroom…

This paper explores three research issues on adolescent development using an elaborated effects model: (1) Are there consistent sex main effects on a variety of student outcomes? (2) What are the relative influences of family status, family processes, school processes, and individual ability on academic and nonacademic behavior of males and…

This paper analyzes data from the Pennsylvania Educational Quality Assessment (EQA) and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to provide a description of grouping, staffing, and scheduling practices that currently exist in elementary, middle, and high schools. The practices are found to follow a continuum from elementary through…

The School Organization program of the Center for Social Organization of Schools is currently concerned with authority-control structures, task structures, reward systems, and peer group processes in schools. This report, prepared by the School Organization program, examines one aspect of authority-control structures in high schools--content of…

Attendance in "open" versus "traditional" schools is shown to have small positive effects on student satisfaction with school life and student self-reliance, while differences in family authority structures are found to be of much more importance for these outcomes when student social class characteristics are statistically controlled. Two…

Sorting practices in the public schools place students, especially those from poor and minority families, at risk. The "talent-development" model is based on the assumption that all students, with adequate support, can learn. This report describes outcomes of the first Talent Development High School, which was established in September 1995 at…

This report was prepared as part of the School Organization Program, a program focusing on authority-control structures, task structures, reward systems, and peer group processes in schools. It contains five papers delivered at an American Education Research Association Symposium. The papers examine current research on the effects of school…