After being involuntarily transferred from a suburban middle school near his home to an urban school facing many challenges, this case describes a series of events that led to a veteran teacher's termination. Upon claiming he was wrongfully terminated, the case narrative ends just prior to the teacher's hearing before the board of education, where…

The purpose of this paper is to explore how accreditation processes aided a school principal in making reform happen. Using routinized action theory (Feldman, 2000), we examined how the routines in school accreditation were used to transform what had been a demoralized, low performing middle school. This theoretical lens is important as it…

Principal Alison Harris is blunt in describing what she confronted on her arrival to Ranson IB Middle School in 2011. "I was placed in what many people would call an impossible situation," she says. During her initial visit to the school in 2009-10, she watched as students changed classes--while teachers pressed against the lockers to…

This study explored the challenges facing 1st-year alternatively certified teachers of mathematics and science in urban middle schools. Four teachers, participants in a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Robert Noyce Scholarship Program, were followed from preservice training through their 1st year of teaching, having taken part in…

The principles of new public management -- market mechanisms, accountability and standards -- have been applied in the education system. These methods are supposed to increase efficiency, but there is also a risk of negative consequences from the services provided if the measures of performance target a reduced range of goals, ignore relevant…

Wartime conditions created a new interest in school-and-work programs for educators because the realities of employment were brought closer to the schools, and for those concerned with the protection of young workers because of the necessity for safeguarding the interests of these young people while on the job. School-and-work programs, under…

It is believed that superintendents and principals, school board members, teachers, and employers and other lay citizens--in fact, all those persons who help to decide on public-school curriculum have need for a bulletin in which information is made available concerning work experience education programs. They should be informed about selected…