This study explores teacher and principal role expectations in conventional versus alternative secondary school settings. A 59-item "Role Expectations Instrument" was to give to 472 teachers in 11 conventional high schools, each having a mini-school associated with it, and in five independent alternative high schools. In addition, 11…

Similarities and differences between alternative and traditional school programs are assessed through a survey of 11th grade social studies teachers in Long Island, New York. The sample consisted of 11 alternative schools and 24 traditional public high schools containing a representative sampling of upper, middle, and lower-class students. A…

Children in a model preschool designed to develop planning and problem-solving abilities scored higher than children in comparison preschools on measures constructed to assess planning and problem-solving skills. (BB)

Compares and contrasts the approaches to mathematics in Montessori schools and traditional schools. Suggests that in a traditional curriculum, math is studied as a separate subject and isolated discipline, in an abstract format, with the entire group of children moving together through the prescribed curriculum. In contrast, the Montessori school…

Findings are presented which provide information about the extent to which fundamental schools (learning in a highly structured setting with instructional emphasis placed on "basic" subjects) at the elementary and junior high school levels in a large school system in Virginia have achieved their objectives. In this report, four schools…

Ethnographic techniques are employed in this study in order to determine the extent to which curricula developed in magnet schools is distinctly different from curricula in conventional or nonmagnet schools. The variables examined and compared include: (1) subject matter offered; (2) instructional methods; (3) grouping procedures; (4) student and…

This paper continues previous reports of a controlled multivariate evaluation of a junior high school open-education program. A new method of estimating program objectives and implementation is presented, together with the nature and degree of obtained student outcomes. Open-program students were found to approve more highly of their learning…

This report describes the Ypsilanti Preschool Curriculum Demonstration Project, a 5-year program conducted to assess the efficacy of preschool intervention for culturally disadvantaged children diagnosed as functionally retarded. Five groups of 3- and 4-year-olds participated in the program or served as controls. The project served as a source of…

Third-, fifth-, and eighth-grade pupil achievement test results in the 1970-71 school year are contrasted in terms of types of school plants, with those schools that had been in operation in a recently constructed school plant for at least one year grouped as "Innovative." Differences in ability levels of pupils were taken into account…

Offers a comparative framework for school organizations which illustrates tacit differences in teacher role expectations inherent in unique types of organizations. Expresses the central idea that the effective classroom teacher's role is operationally defined by the organizational system in which the teacher functions. (CSS)

This report contains three topic centered studies. Each provides a description of the similarities and differences between four elementary alternative schools: a free school, an open school, a continuous progress school, and a contemporary school. Dimensions of the instructional process provide a comparison of the four instructional programs in…

The author, working with a 4-member teaching team, sought to determine how a group of pupils and their teachers would respond to an open space program proposed for a new senior high school building. A test program was conducted in temporary quarters with an experimental group of 25 randomly selected seventh grade students and a control group of 25…

This study attempted to answer two major questions: (1) Does a significant difference exist between the mean gain scores for achievement in reading and mathematics, as measured by the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS), among students from three different architectural school settings (open space, traditional, and mixed); and (2) Do reading…

This study examines the interaction of individual differences in pupils' temperament and ability with variations in educational strategies used in elementary school classrooms. This interaction was analyzed by re-examining the data from 2 previous studies of the effects of various educational strategies on social and academic behavior problems.…

An attempt was made to determine differences in reading achievement gains and student attitudes towards school between groups of third grade children enrolled in either modified open or traditional classrooms in the same school. The Metropolitan Achievement Test in Reading was used for pre- and posttest comparisons of achievement, and a…