This research tested a theoretical model that links (directly and indirectly) principals' characteristics--principals' information-processing mechanisms (PIPMs) and instructional leadership (IL)--with organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs), the latter with teacher characteristics (teachers' affective commitment, collective teacher efficacy,…

School reformers hope that converting comprehensive high schools into collections of small schools will produce results similar to those realized in freestanding small schools. This comparative case study revisits two "conversions" as they complete the grant funding that supported the reform, in order to explore the extent to which…

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…

The issue of retrenchment as an organizational adaptation to changing conditions is discussed here in relation to four interrelated policy questions: What is the economic future of schooling? What economic assumptions underlie the institutional model of school organization? How could economics be interpreted in terms of a human investment model of…

In a study of the mainstreaming practices of a large urban school district, schedules of 844 mildly handicapped elementary students were examined. Schedule appropriateness was defined by three factors: assignments of handicapped students to a fixed group of regular students, to a grade-appropriate group, and for the full sequence of scheduled…

This paper examines a project involving teams of teachers, school administrators, and district-level people from Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) member schools. The CES is a high school reform movement devoted to strengthening the learning of students by reforming each school's priorities and simplifying its structure. The common principles…

A wide variety of charter schools has emerged since the first charter was granted in 1991. Six distinct models include schools managed by grassroots organizations, schools focused on special student populations, schools centered around distance learning or home learning, business-managed schools, schools structured as teacher cooperatives, and…

Individually Guided Education (IGE) is an alternative to the traditional age-graded form of elementary schooling. In a typical IGE school, the principal shares her/his authority with leaders of units in decision-making domains and reaches decision by consensus. The leader of a unit in turn shares his/her authority with unit teachers in making…

This paper describes findings from a study of school capacity, defined as the ability of schools to improve their practices and to sustain those improvements over time. Two schools in the San Francisco Bay Area (California) that have sustained success with distinct, though opposite, pedagogical approaches were examined to determine what makes a…

In this paper some comparisons are made between the British Primary School system and the American school system. For example, the role of the British headmaster/mistress is considerably more powerful than the role of the American principal in areas concerning curriculum content, school personnel, use of auxiliary personnel, scheduling of…

Among the papers read in the conference on education of the Second Pan-American Scientific Congress, held in Washington December 27, 1915, to January 8, 1916, two contain much of interest and value to those who are responsible for the organization of secondary schools: (1) The Changes Needed in American Secondary Education (Charles W. Eliot), plus…

Several studies have found that an inordinate amount of potential instructional time is lost in the American secondary school classroom. This paper briefly overviews the history and types of block scheduling in secondary schools and presents findings of a study that examined the perceptions of administrators and teachers in two large eastern…

To explore how charter schools will enhance teacher professionalism, this paper provides a theoretical framework for a qualitative study that investigated the role played by Colorado's charter-school policy in teacher development. Based on a review of the literature, the paper provides a baseline for comparison. The text examines bureaucratic…

The essence of school-based decision-making is accepting the importance of decentralization and placing emphasis on process in planning efforts. "Synergistic planning" may be a more realistic term, instead of planning, to convey meaning to educators concerning educational organizations. In this model, all people in the organization look…

Concerned with how new schooling structures, once implemented, will remain in place, this paper reviews findings of the International School Improvement Project (ISIP) about institutionalization and suggests their application to educational restructuring results. According to the ISIP study, indicators of complete institutionalization include…