When discussing discipline, educators must separate trivial-but-annoying discipline problems from serious or criminal behavior and define vague terminology. The school's informal and formal curricula, instructional styles, and scheduling must also be examined to determine when the school itself is at fault. Carbondale (Illinois) Elementary…

A 1989 Carnegie Corporation report called for major reforms in early adolescent education and sharply criticized the middle school concept. To compound the social displacement problem, middle schools are often created to satisfy budgetary requirements and shifting enrollment trends, not to meet children's needs. Moving fifth graders is ill…

School restructuring efforts in San Diego (California) Public Schools began with seminars on restructuring followed by school board and teacher association cooperation in changing traditional roles and responsibilities. (MLF)

School systems might know the words to the "middle school reform rag" (preadolescent's unique learning needs), but haven't put the words to music. A Johns Hopkins study recently found that innovative programs are scarce and that middle schoolers typically receive either a warmed-over elementary education or a pseudo-high school education. (MLH)

Refutes an article that appeared in the August issue of "The American School Board Journal," which argued that middle-level education provides a rationale for consolidating rural schools. Presents research findings and describes the middle-level philosophy to show that developmentally responsive middle-level schools do not foster school…

Questionnaires sent to principals of 10,363 public and private high schools elicited 3,380 (33%) responses. Discusses responses to 36 indicators of change in 5 broad areas: (1) curriculum and teaching; (2) school organization; (3) community outreach; (4) technology; and (5) monetary incentives to improve performance. (MLF)

The author suggests that the traditional, classroom form of school organization is ineffective for learning and that it wastes valuable school resources. (Author/DN)

The Palos Heights School District, Illinois, eliminated neighborhood elementary schools in favor of a primary (K-2), intermediate (3-5), and middle school (6-8) configuration. Details the strategies for handling public opposition. (MLF)

In Prince George's County, Maryland, Superintendent Jerome Clark told staffs of low-performing schools to resign and reapply for positions. New principals were hired, and schools were restaffed. San Francisco has experimented with reconstituting or jumpstarting dysfunctional schools since the 1980s. A Department of Education study shows mixed…

At their annual meeting, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) proposed that school reform begin with schools within schools. The arrangement would involve groups of teachers who plan and set up experimental schools within existing schools. (MLF)

Through Michael's eyes, this article illustrates personal disconnections between a good, "invisible" kid and his overworked teachers. Anonymity is the curse of the overloaded, specialized American comprehensive high school. Few teachers can be fully effective when teaching five dozen students. Reallocating instructional resources is…

Researchers say transition programs need to last longer than just the first few days of a new school year. Most transition programs consider only one thing helping students adjust to their new school. Schools need to go through a transition process of their own, paying serious attention to the research on transition, adjusting to the students, and…

Supports Linda Darling-Hammond's contention that many adolescent difficulties are not intrinsic, but stem from mismatches between teens' developmental needs and experiences provided by most secondary schools. A depersonalized, punitive, rote-learning ambience cannot meet adolescents' needs for affiliation, autonomy, and cognitive challenges.…

Deplores inconsistencies between the realities of today's technologically driven, information-age world and the static, constraining boxes in which state-initiated, accountability- focused reforms hold American education. We must reconceptualize schooling, curriculum content, time, grade levels, and achievement to allow more informal,…

The Dade County, Florida, school system selected 32 schools to participate in a pilot program for shared decision making. Evaluators found similar problems and solutions in a variety of school settings and classified them into 9 categories. (MLF)