Seminar papers focus on two sequentially-related projects concerning the implementation phase of educational innovation: (1) a set of observational case studies of schools in their first year's effort to initiate differentiated staffing plans and (2) briefer but more pointed case studies of elementary schools that reputedly had succeeded in…

This 349-item annotated bibliography covers five major subject fields of primary education: general policy (universalization, wastage); organization and management of primary schools; content of primary teaching programs; teaching methods at primary level; reforms and innovations in primary education. A sixth section contains miscellaneous…

It is time to free urban education from the standards of rural, agrarian America. Urban education must reflect modern family structures, utilize school buildings to a fuller extent, reflect more autonomy for schools in individual communities, and expand bilingual programs. In short, schools should become the new "settlement houses" for urban…

Schools and communities increasingly are being called on to meet the needs of all youngsters-- including those experiencing learning, behavior, and emotional problems. Meeting the challenge is difficult. Efforts to do so are handicapped by the way in which student support interventions currently are conceived, organized, and implemented. Over the…

This brief paper is a presentation that preceeded another case of considering the ongoing dialogue on the advantages and disadvantages of centralized and decentralized school-improvement processes. It attempts to raise a number of questions about the relationship between state-designed standards and accountability initiatives and change and…

This book examines the effects of reforms in some countries' national education systems, noting that far from improving education, they have often made it more difficult for teachers to do a good job in the classroom. It focuses on how teaching has changed and continues to change in England's educational reform climate. The book argues that many…

The transition of the Czech school system from a centralized system to one where schools enjoy greater autonomy has not been smooth. Educators and administrators need to learn new skills in interacting with parents, community, and each other in an educational system that is becoming more decentralized. Several surveys were conducted to…

This paper examines how to encourage widespread adoption of comprehensive school-reform models--adoption outside the schools and districts that took part in the development process. It refers to such models as "design-based" schools. The paper defines what is meant by a school design and describes receptive school and district…

Laboratory experiences as a part of most U.S. high school science curricula have been taken for granted for decades, but they have rarely been carefully examined. What do they contribute to science learning? What can they contribute to science learning? What is the current status of labs in our nation s high schools as a context for learning…

In February, 1922, the United States Commissioner of Education, John J. Tigert, called the First National Conference on the Work-Study-Play, or Platoon. One result of this conference was that the superintendents who attended asked the United States Bureau of Education to serve as a clearing house of information in regard to the work-study-play…

Outlines a 10-year plan for school board members to restructure individual school districts. The objectives are to fund groups of teachers directly and establish teaching as the premier professional position in the school district. (MLF)

Includes responses to an earlier issue's symposium on computers in the classroom. Bredo focuses on different levels of learning environments. Winn and Coleman discuss urban and rural schools. Cuban contends that introduction of new technologies cannot lead to educational reform without organizational changes. LaFrenz and Friedman emphasize the…

In the late 1970s, Yugoslavia instituted extensive reforms of the structure of its secondary school system. Surveys of high school upperclass and graduate students before and after reform suggest that reforms had little effect on the relationship between socioeconomic status and type of school enrollment or on student attitudes toward work,…

Reviews the history of secondary science curriculum reform and presents an organizational and curricular framework for discussing why reformers committed to creating a science for living have difficulty altering prevailing patterns. Examines the influence of district, school, and classroom organization upon what curriculum is actually taught and…

Current federal efforts to reform U.S. education overemphasize competition, measurement, and the education-work relationship; distract educators and educational policymakers from tackling structural inertia problems besetting schools; and engender cynicism and passive resistance in already overworked teachers. America 2000 fails to use serious…