Examines the difficulties that plague the middle school movement and why there has been little substantive reform in changing from junior high schools to middle schools. (Author/WD)

Examines the background of external degree programs in Germany and proposes a model that includes a critical discussion of various organizational forms for teaching university courses at a distance. (Author/IRT)

Contrasts the bureaucratic image of schools with four other possible images based on characteristics of social action in sects, legislatures, hospitals, and under anarchic conditions. Aims at developing a greater variety of ways to think about how schools can be organized. Various educational problems and means to resolve them are considered…

A principal describes the conditions in his school that provide intellectual stimulation and promote discussions among staff, students, and himself. (JM)

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)

A 1989 Carnegie Corporation report called for major reforms in early adolescent education and sharply criticized the middle school concept. To compound the social displacement problem, middle schools are often created to satisfy budgetary requirements and shifting enrollment trends, not to meet children's needs. Moving fifth graders is ill…

Three very powerful drivers of curriculum policy are converging to shape what is taught in American schools: the increasing power of testing and standardized accountability models to determine curriculum, the pressure for cultural literacy, and the educational restructuring movement, which could subordinate curriculum to school organization…

Only one overriding issue faces today's educators: the transformation to communication learning systems that will make schools obsolescent. Educators must involve their communities in "imagineering" the long-term future and dismantling the existing system, with its seven period days, ABCDF report cards, group-paced instruction, and…

Agrees with Brian Rowan's article on learning and teaching research in the same issue of "Educational Administration Quarterly." Builds on Rowan's contributions by presenting three major ideas: the cognitive perspective has yet to define adequately a core technology of teaching; foundational understandings of learning and teaching are inextricably…

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…

Before "unstructuring" or "restructuring," a school or district or state should think first about students, adopt successful learning as the criterion for judging the appropriateness of all daily activities, expect all adults to be successful learners, and identify the rules, roles, and relationships (the social structure) needed to support…

Comments on articles appearing in the 2001 theme issue of Sociology of Education. Considers the nature and impact of the widespread cultural commitment to educational equality. Discusses other aspects of education not emphasized in this issue, such as the implications of racial inequality, credentialism, and educational organization (CAJ)

This paper argues for the sustained study of the organizational nature of schools, which should be conducted through a search for good theories. It outlines what such theories would look like and what might reasonably be expected of them. The essay argues that there now is broader recognition of the organizational characteristics and conundrums…

Arguments for beginning new schools as a robust alternative to the incremental improvement of existing schools are presented in this paper. The educational improvement approach of starting new schools or programs, rather than making incremental improvements or generating comprehensive change in existing schools, is advocated. Two major types of…

The loosely coupled organizational approach is evaluated in this paper. This essay evaluates this line of research by focussing on an analysis of schools, which are usually considered to be the epitome of loosely structured organizations. It is argued that distinguishing the mode and degree of organizational coupling and control depends on where,…