School choice is advocated on the theory that deregulation and greater market control can restructure and improve education. While certain market strategies of improvement are worth exploring, complex production functions, unclear goals, and the political role of education in society limit the extent to which education can be understood and…

The general meaning of research data drawn from study of school improvement programs creates the opportunity for sound theory building. By emphasizing the principal's role in policy development, this paper analyzes the characteristics of large-scale educational innovation projects and their explanatory foundations. Belgium's comprehensive Renewed…

Americans want increased federal involvement in their local schools, but they are hesitant about federal control of the classroom. A special CBS News poll, conducted among a nationwide random sample of 1,107 adults (347 of which currently have children in school) by telephone between May 30 and June 2, 1990, indicated a significant division on…

This report analyzes the effects of multiunit school organization on elementary teachers' patterns of task-related communication. Multiunit teacher work teams, or units, are characterized by discussions between teachers about the intimate details of their daily work; this contrasts with the structurally undifferentiated organization of…

One of the four case studies addressing access of rural students to vocational education through inter-school district cooperation, the Heartland case study represents the decentralized variation of the center cooperative school pattern, identifies essential features of this form of cooperation, details factors facilitating/impeding the…

The centralized secondary center pattern of inter-school district cooperation is examined in this third of four case studies addressing access of rural students to vocational education. The report identifies essential features of this form of cooperation, details factors facilitating/impeding the operation/maintenance of the cooperative…

A decentralized noncenter agreement pattern of inter-school district cooperation is examined in this final of four case studies addressing access of rural students to vocational education. The report identifies essential features of this form of cooperation, details factors facilitating/impeding the operation/maintenance of the cooperative…

The paper gives Dutch results and possible implications of three recently completed international evaluation studies. School subjects were mathematics and science at the grade levels 8 and 9 in more than 500 schools. Effect and efficiency of teaching and textbooks in different school types, opportunity to learn, and students' classroom…

Charles Chance's 1982 study of the middle grades in the Knoxville Tennessee, City School System suggested the need to develop a system-wide concept, system-wide goals, and a system-wide organizational framework for middle schools. These issues were addressed in a study designed to assess the status of middle-grade education in East Tennessee and…

This book is a collection of essays by various authors documenting the development and evaluation of Individually Guided Education (IGE), a planned attempt, involving thousands of scholars and practitioners, to produce more effective elementary schools. Part 1, "An Attempt to Restructure Elementary Schooling," consists of three chapters…

This paper presents the results of a study that was conducted to determine whether variation in the organizational structure of middle schools would have an impact upon the quality and quantity of interracial contact among students. The study examined the effect of organizational structure upon: (1) number of reported opposite race friends; (2)…

This report focuses on the relations which have developed between black and white students in a new interracial middle school. In addition to describing these relations, it analyzes why and how they have developed. A review of the literature on desegregation and intergroup relations is used to set the context of the study. A description of the…

The major purposes of this study were to describe and explain, and then to generate grounded theory about the administrative organization, processes, and behavior in an innovative senior high school. The school selected for the study was nationally known for leadership in implementing individualized learning programs compatible with the model of…

This report presents findings from four studies of adolescent behavior in high schools. A basic assumption was that organization structure has strong effects on behavior. The authors concluded that the large comprehensive high school's organization structure with emphasis on teacher initiated action, routine batch processing, and reliance on…

The purpose of this paper is to suggest the utility of an alternate level of data collection for desegregation research. There appears to exist an important disparity between the results generated by a large number of empirical studies and their application to segregation remedy at the classroom, school, and district level. This paper's bias is…