This survey of public opinion about Chicago Public Schools charts responses in the following areas: (1) general evaluation of the public schools; (2) grading the staff; (3) the biggest problems facing Chicago schools; (4) a range of proposed reforms; and (5) finances. Characteristics of the respondents and public school parents also are plotted.…

This case study examines an effort to restructure secondary education in a small rural Massachusetts public high school. Data documenting the change process include archival records, participant observation, and interviews and questionnaires conducted with community members, school staff, and students in grades 7-12. The restructuring effort…

Planning for the future is a necessity for high school principals, as well as for the clear setting of goals and directions, if "crisis management" is to be avoided. The 1960's were the outstanding years in educational progress--but there is a demand now for more. Therefore, the seventies will see more basic changes in education than have been…

This dissertation examines how stakeholders in an Appalachian Kentucky high school addressed educational problems that they targeted for reform. Set against the backdrop of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA), this ethnographic study describes the challenges of effectively coupling top-down state mandates with bottom-up advocacy and…

This dissertation, which won the Dissertation of the Year Award, examines how stakeholders in an Appalachian Kentucky high school addressed educational problems that they had targeted for reform. Set against the backdrop of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA), this ethnographic study describes the challenges of effectively coupling top-down…

A year-long ethnographic investigation examined how stakeholders in an Appalachian Kentucky high school addressed educational problems that they had targeted for reform while resisting state priorities and policies mandated in the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Contrasts KERA objectives with cultural themes prominent in this poor…

From the late 1860s, when they were established in New Zealand, the district high (now area) schools have sought to provide academically able rural youth with the opportunity to study a high status, abstract, examination-oriented curriculum. This curriculum enabled them to pursue clerical and professional careers in the towns and cities. However,…

A longitudinal study examined the factors affecting the long-term success of a midwestern tech prep consortium consisting of one community college and four counties with a mix of rural, urban, and suburban communities. The study was designed to identify the effects of systematic change over time from the following perspectives: students' skill…