Middle school scholars periodically lament the lack of holistic implementation of the middle school concept (Alverson et al., 2021; Dickinson & Butler, 2001; Lounsbury, 2013; Schaefer et al., 2016). The results of a case study conducted in Alberta, Canada (Rheaume, 2018) are compared to a recent examination of the current status of middle…

School sector differences have been the subject of much debate in the literature, but there is limited data that allows careful consideration of differences within the religious school sector. The extensive Catholic school effects literature focuses on issues of school climate, especially an emphasis on persons-in-community, or communal…

This study is part of the International Study of Principal Preparation project and reports on a Canadian Catholic Board's mentoring programme for novice school principals. This programme aims to produce effective managers and provide formal collegial support. A pragmatic, mixed-method approach involving interviews with participants along with an…

This case study tells the story of an elementary school staff on the west coast of Canada that decided to address their perceived problem of teacher isolation by transforming the internal organization of their school into a collaborative environment designed to foster collegial practices among themselves. The main guiding question of this study…

This paper explores the deep-reform efforts of 9 secondary schools over a 3-year period. The reforms occurred in an Ontario, Canada, school district that empowered their secondary schools to develop site-specific organizational structures that deviated from the traditional subject, departmental structure. The sample for the study included all…

A study used survey data from an achieved sample of 1,818 elementary teachers and 6,490 students in a large Canadian school district to explore teacher and principal leadership influences on student engagement with school. Principal-leadership effects were weak but significant; teacher-leadership effects proved insignificant. (Contains 59…

This paper points to examples of the work which has been done in the sociology of teaching and learning and on the school and its environment, isolating specific issues which could be advantageously pursued from a more grounded theory approach. Interprovincial comparison studies are also advocated. (Author/SJL)

Findings of a study that examined teaching culture patterns in two Ontario secondary schools are presented in this paper, with attention given to the outcomes of "balkanization." In this form of the teachers' organizational culture, teachers work in smaller subgroups within the school community. The two schools were drawn from a study of…

In 1975 the Ontario Ministry of Education assigned major responsibilities in curriculum development to local school boards. School boards responded by establishing or expanding special units to develop local programs. At the present time, the organization of these units or program departments varies widely. The focus of the present study is to…

This report is a response to what is perceived as the need for a systematic collection of information on the effects of semestering a secondary school, particularly as those effects are felt in teaching and learning. Chapters deal with monitoring the present school organization in the areas of student course selection and credit accumulation; the…

During the mid- to late-1990s, the declining economy in Nova Scotia led to a reduction in the number of school boards and the closure or amalgamation of smaller schools. This paper presents findings from the first phase of a longitudinal case study that explored the amalgamation of five elementary schools in Gold Cove, Nova Scotia. The study uses…

Discusses organizational issues under the constraints of enrollment decline, focusing particularly on the politics of local autonomy and responsiveness to community attitudes regarding program modifications and school closing. (Author/MLF)

Perceptions of their learning environments are studied for 112 medical students in Canada through interviews over 2 years. Students perceive that structures of the learning environment foster a highly competitive milieu influencing their approach to learning. Processes of teaching are viewed somewhat more positively. (SLD)

This report describes a study that investigated the effects of "full-credit semestering" in Ontario secondary schools. In full-credit semestering, the school year is divided in half, and students receive full credit for each course completed each semester. The study also explored the effects of trimestering, half-credit semestering, and…

This publication is the second in a series of reports on educational buildings. This report deals with the multioption school, a special type of secondary school designed to offer a broad choice of educational options and activities in response to changing educational and social needs. The report analyzes problems raised by the design and…