This article investigates the impact of different school models (middle school, K-8, and the UK secondary) on young adolescents' perceptions of their school climates. In particular, it analyzes the importance of people and place in the positive and negative attitudes that middle-level students develop about their schools. Based on mixed-method…

With the implementation of site-based decision-making occurring in schools, the extent to which teachers perceive their involvement in decisions on planning, budgeting, curriculum, staffing patterns, staff development, and campus-level organization and the extent to which teachers' views of their involvement in these activities are congruent with…

This work, part of the Spanish government's National I + D Plan 2004/07, entitled "Observatics: the implementation of free software in ICT centres in Andalusia: an analysis of its effect on the teaching-learning process", aims to describe the most recent impact of online communication technologies on education in Andalusia (Spain),…

While providing stability and uniformity, organizational routines can foster continuous change. Using Feldman's (2000) performative model of routinized action theory, coupled with leadership succession research, we examined how three successive administrations in a California high school revised a student attendance (tardy-monitoring) routine over…

Framed by organizational socialization, this qualitative study examines the use of a formal arrangement of mentoring to socialize prospective school administrators. Participants were eight interns paired with eight principals from three school districts. Our ethnographic approach solicited an insider's view of mentoring based upon participants'…

Researchers have identified ninth grade as one of the most critical periods of time for intervention to prevent the loss of motivation, failing grades, and dropping out of school. This Information Capsule is concerned with the efficacy of ninth-grade centers or academies which isolate ninth-grade students into separate school buildings or in wings…

This study outlines a descriptive theory that seeks to grasp the complexity of the school as a state and societal institution as well as single schools as organizations. A significant characteristic of this complexity is the ambiguity of the missions and goals--the outer boundaries--of the school-institution. The more institutional ambiguity that…

This phenomenological study of school consolidation is an investigation of how education policy that dictates the reorganization of schools and districts impacts educational choices, learning environments, and school culture. Although quality studies of optimal school size for promoting student achievement and cutting costs have emerged in the…

This article, by Jackie Lambe, lecturer in education, and Robert Bones, lecturer in psychology, both from the University of Ulster, provides a useful review of the current state of policy, practice and teacher education relating to pupils with special educational needs in Northern Ireland. The authors use this review to launch their account of…

Critique focuses on the discourse of leadership as a vehicle for representing organizational practice. Identifies a series of conceptual inadequacies, such as difficulties in distinguishing leadership from management. Embedded in each criticism is a claim that, if leadership is to retain its conceptual and practical utility, then it has to be…

This paper explores personalised learning, which is a "new" teaching and learning style in the Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners launched by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) for England in 2004. The research was based on semi-structured interviews with 13 teachers mainly in charge of Key Stage 3 at two 11-18…

The current wave of school reform focuses on restructuring schools to align all aspects of the school community around a consistent and guiding vision. While-school reform, or comprehensive school reform, has reached the forefront of educational reform, now that the research on effective schools shows that school communities with clear goals and…

This volume presents a range of research and perspectives dedicated to advancing understanding of schools through empirical study and theoretical analysis. The eight chapters are: (1) "Organizational Learning in High-Stakes Accountability Environments: Lessons from an Urban School District" (Helen M. Marks and Susan M. Printy); (2) "Sources of…

The author, who conducted a study of 18 New England academies, shares some of his findings and some insights on the role of the academy in today's society. (Author)

A study of 1127 classes of 7-, 9-, and 11-year-old children in English schools was conducted to obtain information about the organization of schools, the range of work done by children, their performance on certain tests, and the degree to which children's work is matched to their abilities. (Author/MLF)