This paper suggests that school systems can develop and implement a plan to keep schools operating to the advantage of students, staff, and community despite declining enrollment. In arguing against the closing of schools, this paper provides quotes from a survey and summary statements from school officials to show that closings do not save school…

Responses to a series of five group interviews and questionnaire surveys provide the basis for this study of the effects of declining enrollment on Ontario's curriculum. The supervisory personnel in the sample identified six factors in curriculum planning that would be influenced by declining enrollment: teachers, line administrators, curriculum…

This report gives the results of a 1977 survey of secondary school principals by the National Institute of Education, Washington D.C. The purpose of the study was to empirically describe high school organization and programs and how they are affected by federal, state, and district characteristics. The results of the survey counteract many…

This work synthesizes 14 case studies from different countries that were developed as part of the "School Map" project. The project developed a methodology to identify and to project the spatial characteristics of an educational system so that the existing distribution of educational opportunities can be diagnosed and an educational plan…

This book is a study of contemporary alternative schools and the complex of forces which led to their growth in the late sixties. Using current literature and a data base derived from a random sample of forty alternative schools, the goals, pedagogical methods, administrative organization, and composition of contemporary alternative schools are…

What makes the English and the Soviet educational accomplishments of recent years worth scrutinizing is their scope: they suggest that a national school system can not only strengthen the relationship between the child and his community but also can take over functions once thought of as the province of the family, which here in America, as…

Funded in part by Elementary Secondary Education Act Title III funds and in part by the Atlanta, Georgia School System, Project Success Environment is now in Year Two of a three year program. A teaching technique of three components--a reinforcement system, a special classroom arrangement, and a success curriculum--the project premised that if…

This study examines the relationship of organizational variables to teacher motivation. It seeks to determine what differences, if any, exist between the organizational structures of multiunit (MUS) and non-multiunit (NMUS) individually guided education (IGE) elementary schools. The unit of analysis consists of MUS and NMUS elementary schools in…

Research findings identifying the most effective class size are found to be inconclusive. Some studies have found small classes more effective, others have favored large classes, and some have found no differences in learning effectiveness due to class size. A number of these studies are cited and points of agreement noted. In a second section…

The central need in education is to recognize that many of the gains in pupil achievement, as measured in test scores, may not be sustainable if educators continue to be fixated on short-term outcomes and plans. This paper addresses the key concerns of how educators sustain and develop schools through the deployment of effective planning…

Effective building leadership and time utilization are important to the success of implementing change. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe the experiences of an urban junior high school principal involved in a collaborative change effort. Specifically studied were the principal's actions, behavior, communication, and…

The creation of publicly financed but relatively independent public charter schools may be the most vibrant force in American education today. This fastback presents findings of a national study that examined the outcomes of charter schools. Data were collected through site visits to 43 charter schools in 7 states (Arizona, California, Colorado,…

Examined effects of school socioeconomic status, student race/ethnicity, gender, family composition, and school organization on students' sense of belonging. For high SES schools, no statistically significant effects were obtained for the five variables; for low SES schools, statistically significant main effects were obtained for student gender,…

Examined the relation of school leadership changes to school configuration (climate, structure, and student population characteristics), based on survey data from 122 elementary schools. Schools having changes in principals had greater use, more new and minority students, slightly lower scores on criterion-referenced tests, and less discipline.…

Higher education has two primary purposes: (1) student learning for the improvement of self, family, employers, and society at large; and (2) knowledge generation, conservation, and dissemination for the advancement of everyone, now and in the future. To succeed in meeting these goals over the long term, colleges and universities: (1) have to be…