Three administrative approaches to organize the secondary school to provide services for learning disabled students are considered. In the first, a staff member assumes the role of case manager, coordinating communication and records from staffings, placement team meetings, conferences with parents, and individualized education program…

The author analyzes mainstreaming (as mandated by P.L. 94-142--the Education for All Handicapped Children Act) from an organizational perspective and maintains that resistance to the demands of mainstreaming is both natural and predictable. Mainstreaming terms are defined, an historical perspective is offered, and hypothetical case studies of…

Outlines the Learning Climate Improvement Process developed by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) that is used to identify the components of a school needing improvement. Includes discussion of the five steps involved in the improvement process. Includes references. (MD)

Vague goals, unmanaged technology, minimal accountability, and little contact among staff members are characteristics that many schools share with other loosely coupled organizations. Effective schools do not share these characteristics. Some strategies for eliminating these traits are suggested. (PGD)

Advice on ways to make the transition process from junior high to middle school easier. (Author/MLF)

Identifies a set of considerations for school systems and policy makers contemplating the development or improvement of alternative schools, including whether systems need more than one alternative school, how their effect should be judged, organization for instruction and for staffing, and how the learning environment should be arranged. (SR)

This book takes readers through the steps that school personnel encounter in planning and developing a middle school. Chapter 1 outlines the rationale, origin, advantages, functions, and tasks of a middle school, along with setting parameters for its unique identity. Chapter 2 identifies the target population, emerging adolescents, and their…

The report most frequently heard in successful schools is that rules are carefully and openly developed, clearly announced, firmly enforced, and consistently applicable to everyone. (Author)

Evidence suggests that a middle school organizational design has some administrative advantages over the traditional junior high school program because of the more unified social and academic atmosphere. (LH)

To implement curriculum changes successfully, five guidelines should be followed: changes should be research-based; successful innovation requires organizational changes; innovations must be feasible for the average teacher; implementation efforts must be organic, not bureaucratic; and a definite curriculum plan is essential. Guidelines for…

This paper identifies fundamental characteristics of successful heterogeneous public schools, outlining examples of practices that enable schools to accommodate greater student variance. Characteristics include, among others, outcomes-based instructional models; utilization of peer power; cooperative learning; opportunities for professional…

Interdisciplinary high schools are characterized by the decentralization of specialized areas and organization of space into modules that reinforce student communication as well as flexibility. Starting with an interdisciplinary cluster approach and then overlaying the departments aids the process. (MLF)

To provide policymakers, practitioners, and other education leaders with the knowledge needed to consider the issues surrounding charter schools, a survey of these schools is offered. The text opens with an overview of charter-school basics, including the types of schools that are permissible and the legal status of charter schools. It analyzes…

In this paper the authors extend an earlier study that developed images of what schools are like as social entities. That study found that elementary schools correspond to the rational bureaucratic image, whereas secondary schools are more loosely coupled systems. The study was limited by a small sample. In this paper the research was extended to…

Evaluative criteria providing subjective and objective responses has been established for the planning, organization, implementation and/or evaluation of a middle school by experts in the middle school concept. Students, parents, staff, and administration should be involved in the evaluation of the middle school's philosophy. By rating statements…