This personal account of a central office administrator's involvement in the Riverside (California) Unified School District's decentralization effort discusses the problems facing the rapidly growing district in the early 1960's, kinds of interventions required to break out of old attitudes toward schooling and school administration, and some…

The American Federation of Teachers' (AFT) annual meeting stressed school restructuring, schools within schools, in which groups of teachers work within the system to change the system. The delegates passed a number of resolutions that called for extending current services or initiating new ones. (MLF)

Loosely coupled educational organizations exhibit structural similarities to preliterate societies in their lack of formal leadership and control. The identification of social outsiders as "witches" to explain disasters affecting preliterate societies may have its counterpart in educational organizations when nonconformists are…

The Holmes Group proposals for reforming teacher education are evaluated by looking at the effects on teacher knowledge and competence, attraction and retention of talented teachers, organization of schools and the teaching profession, and cost effectiveness. (MT)

Offers a systematic critical response to the values-oriented, nonpositivist conception of administration and philosophy of administration recently advanced by Christopher Hodgkinson. Argues that Hodgkinson's theory is much closer to the positivism espoused by H. A. Simon. An alternative, nonpositivist basis for values in administrative theory is…

The structure of schooling has been accepted as a given, and demands for reform have centered on changes within the structure rather than on the structure itself. The workplace shapes the behavior of teachers and students in significant ways, and therefore cannot be ignored in the councils of reform. (MT)

This paper examines the construction of time in education, emphasizing the development of the 180-day school year. A 1991 study showed that schools throughout the United States follow a distinctive time pattern that the report labeled dysfunctional. The norm for required attendance is 180 school days, stretching across a school year that begins in…

Maintains that secondary schools often assign their counselors major responsibility for the gatekeeping and custodial functions associated with student scheduling. Recommends as an alternative having counselors advise students and others needing counseling while paraprofessionals and clerical personnel handle the administrative duties. (Author/PGD)

One alternate approach to school administration centers on the use of two principals, one for administration and one for instruction. This article examines the approach and offers some cautions. (Author/MLF)

The controversy over the decentralization of schools focuses essentially on the issue of community control. This article explores the current status of decentralization and evaluates its effectiveness as a vehicle for community influence and educational reform. (Author/WD)

The evidence does not support Chubb and Moe's conclusions that current methods of school governance are responsible for poor student achievement. Organization and other variables (such as family background and student ability) combined account for less than 5 percent of student achievement variations. Market principles applied to education could…

Argues for learner motivation emphasis in teaching practice, application of school organization and classroom climate findings to prisoner education program development, and a cooperative administrative approach. Urges implementation of a social interaction learning model to achieve state educational aims for all students. (LAM)

First in a series of profiles to trace the intellectual roots of the modern middle-school movement through the thoughts and actions of five of its most influential revolutionaries. (seven references) (MLF)

As individuals contemplate a new worldview of leadership education, they must step back to reflect on what now shapes and constrains leaders in schools. Their understandings of traditional leadership are rooted in organizational theory that is focused on rationality, effectiveness, and efficiency of bureaucratic institutions, defining the…

Issues in restructuring education for meeting the needs of at-risk students are discussed in this paper. The six goals of restructuring are: (1) reduce the number of drop outs; (2) raise the level of achievement for all; (3) have business and education work together; (4) create schools which incorporate both social and educational services; (5)…