Community-based interagency collaboration among schools and other public service agencies is one reform idea for addressing the complex conditions of children with a high level of needs. This paper presents findings of a study that explored the workings of one community-based collaboration, referred to as the Community-Based Collaboration for…

This book provides a conceptual basis for viewing the school as an ecology of people and events that goes beyond the school walls. The book argues that everything that goes on in school is inextricably linked to the home--from patterns of thought and behavior to attitudes toward school. The book also provides strategies for parents, teachers, and…

This study was undertaken to investigate how individual teachers' opinions and beliefs serve as a basis for classroom practice and curriculum decision making. United States history teachers are not passive transmitters of knowledge; they bring their own experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and ways of looking at the world to the classroom. The…

Recently, school-community relationships have gained popularity as a way to increase resources for schools. This paper presents results of a case study that examined the interorganizational relationship between a public school and a community-based program. Specifically, the study explored the elements involved in the implementation and…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined the leadership factors that emerged during the planning and implementation of a neighborhood schooling program for special education students with mild and moderate handicapping conditions in 12 schools in an urban school district in a community in the southwestern United States. Leadership is…

The relationship of the middle-level writing curriculum to four influences on English language arts teachers' writing practices and instructional programs are explored in this report. The four variables include school organizational structure, philosophical commitment to middle-school programs, policy structure, and teacher characteristics. The…

Characteristics of middle schools are analyzed, based on data from surveys in 1968 and 1988. In 1968, W. M. Alexander undertook a survey to provide benchmark data about middle schools with information from 110 schools. This study was replicated in 1988 with data received from 56% of the 10,857 schools approached. Comparison of these data confirmed…

Parental choice represents a promising approach to school improvement; it eliminates the excessive regulation, inefficient operation, and ineffective service that characterize the public monopolies that American schools and school systems have become. However, school reformers should bear in mind the following key points: (1) school performance…

The relationship of middle school climate to academic achievement was examined. Participants were members of eight 6th grade classes. Four of the classes were in elementary settings, and four in middle school settings. Classes were matched as closely as possible on economic status and ethnic composition. Entered into correlational analyses were…

This report's central theoretical assumption is that adolescents are in risk of problem behavior if they are not sufficiently equipped with the social and psychological competencies to cope with culturally and socially defined developmental tasks specific to their ages. The first chapter describes the socio-structural factors which have changed…

The environment within which an organization must operate is expected to influence its administrative and program characteristics. Since public schools operate in more complex and conflicting environments than do private schools, it is predicted that they will exhibit greater administrative complexity and less curricular coherence. These…

The first of a projected series of three studies addressing the differing organizational contexts of the special education director's work and the resulting consequences, this investigation examined the work of a special education director in a "staff" position with respect to the consequences to the district at this organizational…

This document examines recent state school reform efforts from two perspectives: the strategies states adopt to improve educational excellence and the influence those strategies have on the functional dimensions of education policy. The paper reports the research findings of a study that examined state reform strategies nationally. The study…

The first report of an ongoing case study examining the impact of using a laboratory of microcomputers as a tool for teaching science and social science courses in a high school, this paper reports on a sociological investigation of the organizational change in the structure and functioning of the school brought about by the introduction of the…

This study addresses the issue of how different school organizational patterns affect the academic learning of students of different backgrounds and abilities. Using data from the Pennsylvania Educational Quality Assessment (EQA) on approximately 8,000 sixth-grade students in elementary and middle schools, the study examines how instructional…