To shed light on appropriate grouping practices for early adolescents, this article presents current data on using between-class grouping and regrouping in American schools serving this population, based on the 1988 Johns Hopkins University middle school survey. Findings show that learning opportunities in the middle grades remain highly…

Shares insights gained when the author, a professor of teacher education, taught middle and high school for a half-year in the public schools. Discusses the school setting and the classroom experience, and offers observations on whether students have changed, the school curriculum, and school organization and procedures. (SR)

To prepare their students for successful futures, teachers must be willing to learn continuously, expand their own abilities, and assume ever greater leadership roles. Principals must create an environment that supports teacher collaboration, facilitates professional development, and recognizes the concept of teacher leadership. (MLH)

A study used survey data from an achieved sample of 1,818 elementary teachers and 6,490 students in a large Canadian school district to explore teacher and principal leadership influences on student engagement with school. Principal-leadership effects were weak but significant; teacher-leadership effects proved insignificant. (Contains 59…

This paper is a literature review of intensive education, or "macro block-scheduling." Intensive education is a change in the structure of secondary school organization. It involves organizing the school's schedule for efficiency and effectiveness so students study and teachers teach one subject for 30 days. Students stay with one…

This paper hypothesizes that both the structure and function of school systems are influenced by the following environmental factors: the institutional division of labor, the degree of homogeneity, the degree of stability, the degree of competition, and the amount and source of funding. Support for the hypotheses relies on open systems theory and…

There are a large number of elementary schools in the U.S. which are in the process of developing or implementing highly organized programs of individualization. This study examines the organization and implementation of some of these highly individualized schools. It examines the correlation between high levels of individualization and the…

This report describes goals, results, and work-in-progress for each of the programs through which the Center is attempting to develop a scientific knowledge of how schools affect students and to use this information for the invention of better school practices and educational forms. The major programs are 1) school organization--to determine how…

Attitudes, as measured by the College Student Questionnaire (CSQ), of the members of a college freshman class grouped according to high school backgrounds were studied. Various high school backgrounds, private and public were included. It was hypothesized that: (1) members of the four intraclass groups would have different attitude patterns as a…

This paper provides part of the theoretical underpinning for a series of studies on the environment for teaching. Addressed primarily to organizational researchers, it deals with the relation between educational innovation and the organizational structure of schools. Three assumptions made widely in previous studies relating technology to…

This article is excerpted from Principals and Open Education, a study of two principals at work in schools making the transition from traditional to open education. These principals, along with many open classroom teachers, view change as a slow process. (Author/AM)

In 1974, Montclair Academy and its Brookside School merged with The Kimberley School. Faced with the possibility of difficulties, failures, traumatic experiences, and the years of struggle involved in making the new school work, the new principal of The Montclair Kimberley Academy in New Jersey discusses some of his problems and the surprises he…

Presents a field study focused on the work associated with the assistant school principalship in large high schools. Describes the assistant principals' role as one of maintaining discipline through organizational values and stability. Provides a theoretical model for understanding the relationship between the assistant's role and the school…

Using surveys of the professional staffs of 41 secondary schools, this study examines the relationship between two aspects of bureaucratic structure (centralization and formalization) and two sorts of alienation (from work and expressive relations). It then compares the results with similar studies of social studies of social welfare agencies. (JW)

This cross-sectional study used primarily quantitative methods to investigate the superior achievement of 4th- and 5th-grade students at Alaska's Kenai Peninsula Borough School District who as young elementary students had attended K-2 primary school, compared to peers who had attended a K-6, K-8, or K-12 configured school. Since this study was…