Eleven country reports and five special articles, contributed by educators who have been associated with the planning of education in their countries, are presented. In analyzing their experiences, educators not only pinpoint organizational and procedural shortcomings from which educational planning has suffered in Asia, but also highlight what…

Education's loyalty to contemporary school organization has provoked wholesale student underachievement and a tragic subculture of youngsters at risk. This book proposes a model for school reform called Success Oriented Schools (SOS). Chapter 1 introduces the premise that schools will begin to educate all students when they strengthen wholesome…

A current educational trend involves looking for ways to make the most efficient use of the time students spend in school. As schools embrace curricular reform, those on the front lines are reevaluating traditional beliefs about how schools are structured. This book contains a collection of articles that present information necessary to making a…

Superintendents who aspire to lead rarely find clear explanations of what to expect from their constituents or about what they should do. This book presents findings of a study that explored superintendents' approaches to leadership, constituents' responses to their superintendents' initiatives, and the resulting changes in practice. The book is…

The idea that changes in school organization can improve teaching and enhance learning has heavily influenced educational reform over the past decade. With a goal of enabling teachers to promote students' construction of knowledge--so-called "constructivist" teaching--school restructuring has tended to focus on changing: (1) how schools group…

This book presents ways in which school administrators can identify and redirect school funds to improve student performance. It quantifies the degree of overall financial inequality in the country using figures for all districts and shows how education dollars are currently spent, why these dollars are ineffectual, and how different and more…

This book is premised on the conviction that being a successful principal is more than being a good manager. Becoming an effective school leader means understanding the culture as well as acquiring the technical skills. The book discusses the personalities and value systems that school leaders need to succeed. It is designed for first-year…

This study uses Pierre Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital to understand varying levels of parent participation in schooling. Bourdieu argues that schools draw unevenly on the social and cultural resources of members of the society by invoking particular linguistic styles, authority patterns, and types of curricula. The cultural properties…

Charter schools are public, nonsectarian schools that operate under a written contract from a local school board or other organization. This book describes the history of the charter-school movement and the patterns that current charter-school advocates may find themselves repeating; offers examples of existing charter schools, enabling…

Meaningful school reform requires a deeper understanding of how high schools evolved to their current condition. This book presents an objective history of American public secondary education in two ways--as a social history and as a synthesis of literature. Chapter 1 offers a brief history of American education, beginning with the debate over…

To be financially viable, Catholic elementary schools with enrollments of under 100 students need to recognize their smallness and seek structures and methods appropriate to their size. This book addresses the needs of very small schools with current or potential multigrade classrooms, and describes organizational and instructional approaches…

This volume contains a series of articles describing the management of education in various countries of the Asian region and discussing a few of the regional problems. Many of these problems are the result of old administrative machinery trying to cope with growth in the size and complexity of education and with a new view of education as a key…

This study examines three veteran urban school superintendents who were highly respected by their colleagues but who came under intense pressure from forces outside the school systems in the 1960's. Chapter 1 explores the context of the desegregation controversy and the furor over an independent evaluation that faced Benjamin C. Willis in Chicago.…

This book concentrates on the connection between organizational behavior and the clamor for school reform, whether market-based, standards-based, or whole-school reform. It explains the great need for school leaders to develop a theory and practice that draws on what is known about organizational behavior in education. Educational leaders need a…

The American public education system seems to be resistant to curative measures. This book is a journalistic account of Cleveland Heights High School's unsuccessful struggle to achieve excellence and equity. The high school, located in a middle-class suburb of Cleveland, implemented the Model School Project in 1988 to address the persistent…