At the heart of the controversy over public education in a democratic system is the tension between majority rules and minority rights, and public and individual interests. This contextual framework sets the stage for the emergence of charter schools in Alberta, Canada. This paper describes the establishment and characteristics of the first…

Views about privatization's advantages and disadvantages vary widely in the educational research literature. These disparate views are shaped by reviewers' frames of reference and the evaluation criteria that they use. This book was written to help readers develop more refined lenses for viewing the privatization movement. Chapter 1 asserts that…

The Wayne State University Public School (UPS), Detroit (Michigan), a university-operated charter middle school, is strongly influenced by the educational reform movement. The evolution of UPS is documented as a case study of educational reform in the 1990s, focusing on the 1994-95 school year. The school is in an urban area marked by poverty and…

The functions of student service offices at Mercy College of Detroit were clarified. A Key Personnel Group (KPG) consisting of the directors of all student service offices was formed. Administration of a needs assessment survey to students who had been admitted conditionally (i.e., entered with less than a 2.00 high school grade point average)…

This document, a two-volume report, provides in volume 1 the final longitudinal evaluation of the New York City Dropout Prevention Initiative (DPI), 1985-86 through 1987-88. (The second volume comprises appendices containing summaries of each previous evaluation for this time period.) The DPI was implemented in 13 high schools and 29 feeder middle…

Recent educational reform initiatives have caused the state to examine its role in regulation of schools, and the current regulatory processes have been found to be in need of revision. The current system, in which the state grants "recognition" to schools that meet its standards based on whether they meet a rigidly defined set of…

This paper reviews the suitability at the kindergarten level of Philadelphia's new K-12 Standardized Curriculum in terms of concerns expressed by a group of Philadelphia kindergarten teachers. The teachers' objections spring from two different conceptions of early childhood education. According to one argument (rejected by the district but…

This paper presents organizational strategies and implementation methods for conversion to middle school organization (scheduled to take place in 1988) in the Johnson City, Tennessee, school system. Carried out by the district in partnership with local institutions of higher education, the study focuses on what is educationally best for the child…

This paper examines trends in the use of research and evaluation resources in the Dallas (Texas) Independent School District (DISD) and in other school districts throughout the country. First, the organization and functions of the Department of Research, Evaluation, and Audit of the DISD are presented and compared to those of 7 years ago. Second,…

The effectiveness of strategies employed by colleges and universities to reverse a trend of declining enrollment was studied. A comparison was undertaken of 59 institutions that were successful (S) and 54 institutions that were unsuccessful (U) in reversing enrollment decline. In addition to questionnaire response data, extensive demographic data…

The proposed formation of a Western Australian College of Advanced Education as a multi-campus reorganization of the existing five teachers colleges is examined, as are other options. The proposal is based on the 1976 Partridge Committee report, which claims that the autonomy of the five teachers colleges has resulted in unnecessary duplication,…

This speech addresses reform in the middle grades. The ideas were prompted by mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act. The speaker focused on eight fundamental questions, suggesting that the questions should have less to do with the techniques of implementation than with provoking discussion about a school system's or school's values, priorities,…

"Elemiddle" schools serve the needs of young adolescents, aged 10 to 14, in any combination of grades 5 through 8, as part of an organizational structure that includes lower grades. Research has shown that middle schools with 6-8 grade spans and K-8 schools are most likely to implement child-centered programs, practices, and policies than schools…

Using telephone survey data from National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers representatives and information from official union publications and research reports, this article summarizes AFT and NEA perspectives on shared governance and administrator education programs in light of school restructuring efforts. The central…

Instead of inviting public engagement, the current educational system reinforces a hierarchical, bureaucratic pattern that gives neither students nor parents an official voice. Today's parents are demanding, more market-oriented, and organizing on the Internet. Strategies for fully involving parents in improvements for the common good are…