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…

Schools are forging linkages with noneducational organizations and agencies to address the needs of all students, particularly those who are most vulnerable to the southwest region's economic and social upheaval. This paper attempts to present an overview of the interrelationship between two elements of the community at large--business and…

Replacement of Australia's binary system, which separates the roles of colleges and universities, is discussed in this seminar report. In addition to seven seminar papers, information is provided on the Australian higher education system, including access, the curriculum, research, fiscal accountability, and program relevance and quality. In the…

A model is presented for studying how schools provide instruction to students. A major function of the National Center for Education Statistics is to collect data for understanding and improving how schools provide instruction. The model describes school factors (characteristics, staffing, organization, policy, and student evaluation); classroom…

This study evaluates the opportunities available to women to advance educationally and professionally in Italy. Data from official Italian publications are used to compare the enrollment of males and females in secondary, higher secondary, and university education, and to assess the availability for women of positions at the university level. The…

A conceptual model for an individualized training program for school administrators integrates processes, characteristics, and tasks through theory training and application. Based on an application of contingency theory, it provides a system matching up administrative candidates' needs in three areas (administrative process, administrative…

Discussed are the procedures implemented in the Orleans Parish Schools in response to the Louisiana state-mandated promotional testing program (Act 750, 1979), and concerns regarding its value. Recent findings raise fundamental questions about whether an exclusively skills-focused curriculum in the early years provides the needed grounding in…

Public school administrators must develop new organizational structures to meet declines in expenditures, enrollments, student performance, and staff motivation. In doing so they must be sure to coordinate changes at the organizational level with changes at the individual level. Development of new structures should take into account the purposes…

Recent literature has made little attempt to apply historical studies to the problems of contemporary educational administration or to use historical studies as the basis for analysis or prediction. This article examines the role of historical insights in relation to educational administration and proposes approaches that might enhance their…

In Hammond, IN, the hierarchical structure of authority typical of most school districts is on its way out. With school based committees making more decisions, teachers are having a say in all matters that affect them and their students. Includes an interview with teacher and union leader, Patrick O'Rourke (Author/LHW)

Examines the organizational implications of the recent education reform panels and commissions, including the question of expected linkage between reports and action at the local level. Looks at the commissions as ceremonies with deep symbolic meaning and the potential power to express, shape, reorganize, or create educational values. (RDN)

Offers a taxonomy of state policy mechanisms (structural organization, revenue generation, resource allocation, personnel training and certification, program definition and accreditation, curriculum materials selection and development, and student testing and assessment) for promoting one or more of three competing goals (efficiency, equity, and…

Teacher training programs should permit elementary teachers to specialize in either language arts/social studies or mathematics/science, and prepare them for employment in departmentalized teaching situations. Advantages of such an approach are discussed, as are changes that would be required both at the elementary school level and at teacher…

The institutional features of the American high school reflect its role as the custodian of adolescents, who lack any status in society beyond that of student. These features conflict with the school's educative aim of adolescent self-development; curricular and organizational reforms are needed to correct this dichotomy. (SJL)

The rationale behind the traditional grade organization pattern of pre-primary, primary, secondary, and tertiary is discussed, as is the trend to extend compulsory schooling later into the teenage years. The impact of these divisions and of compulsory schooling itself on equal educational opportunity is considered. (SJL)