This book serves as a resource guide to help people engage in a healthy, informed discussion of restructuring possibilities. Its focus is on creating readiness for school restructuring, which differs from both renewal and reform. Each chapter is similar in structure and designed to stand on its own. Each is short enough to be quickly read and then…

As sponsoring agents for Arizona charter schools, individual school boards in Arizona are committed to ensuring that all applicants have a fair and equal opportunity to submit a proper charter proposal. This handbook provides information and materials to help charter-school applicants in Arizona prepare a proposal for establishing a charter…

Developed as a guide for school leaders faced with the task of restructuring a school, this guide is a comprehensive look at the notions of restructuring and reform. It provides a comprehensive definition of restructuring, three outstanding representative examples, and a systematic process for implementing and managing change. Written to provide…

The school district decentralization process is described in this guidebook, which focuses on the administrator's role in implementation. Three chapters are organized around the three phases of decentralization--exploration, trial, and commitment. Each phase is examined in terms of the real-life experiences of administrators and other…

Whatever the past achievements of our schools, very few today bring about student learning even remotely up to the minimum requirements of a nation such as the United States; small improvements in the educational system will be of little consequence in light of the huge deficits and the country's increasing needs. Most of the large, complex plans…

This book is addressed to high school principals, teachers, curriculum specialists, counselors, and other educators interested in creating sound change at the building level. The theme of constructivism and constructivist thought pervades the text. Part 1 introduces the reader to constructivism and offers comparisons of a high school based on…

This guide presents research-based practices and elements that are essential to effective systemic reform, especially as such reform relates to the needs, challenges, and context of urban schools. It is designed to enable school leadership teams to develop, review, and revise school plans that focus on the elements of effective educational…

As of November 1996, at least 25 states had passed charter-school legislation empowering agencies of state government to enter into agreements with private individuals and groups to operate public schools. This is a guidebook for government agencies given the power to permit individuals and groups to operate autonomous public schools under state…

For effective schools, leadership is vital. As the structure of American education evolved, a model of how a local school board should function emerged. The model is briefly summarized and research on educational leadership, challenges of school board service in New York State, and responsibilities of school boards are discussed. Key leadership…

This book promotes use of the microcomputer in schools as a school-wide resource, with applications across the entire curriculum, rather than as the specialized tool of only one subject area. It suggests ideal within-school organization and management so as to facilitate this role and considers the immediate and long-term implications of the…

Teachers and administrators who understand the "politics" in schools can operate more successfully to facilitate change. This book teaches educators to identify and influence common social patterns that affect their work in school organizations. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the concept of organizational literacy and an overview of several…

This paper examines how to encourage widespread adoption of comprehensive school-reform models--adoption outside the schools and districts that took part in the development process. It refers to such models as "design-based" schools. The paper defines what is meant by a school design and describes receptive school and district…

A primer for schools attempting to analyze the data they collect. Describes ways schools can get a better picture of how to improve learning by gathering, intersecting, and organizing four categories of data more efficiently: (1) demographic data; (2) student-learning data; (3) perceptions data; and (4) school-processes data. (WFA)

Outlines a 10-year plan for school board members to restructure individual school districts. The objectives are to fund groups of teachers directly and establish teaching as the premier professional position in the school district. (MLF)

This paper presents educational collaboration as a structured process and interactive relationship among individuals that focuses on multiple outcomes in a school's organizational structures. The paper describes characteristics of a collaborative school and the professional behaviors that support collaboration; outlines strategies that facilitate…