One of 52 theoretical papers on school crime and its relation to poverty, this chapter, by exploring the relationships among poverty, the ways schools are organized, and student disruption, generates notions that will help in developing a theoretical perspective on school disruption in terms of the various control patterns of school organization.…

Evidence suggests that educational organizations lack internal coordination. This is especially true of the content and methods of what is presumably their central activity--instruction. Instruction tends to be removed from the control of the organizational structure, both in its bureaucratic aspects and in its professional or collegial aspects.…

The more schools seem to change, the more they deepen old ruts--a discussion of social scientists' ideas for innovations that tend not to be put into practice. (MM)

Asserts that achievement and cost measures of school districts' effectiveness are useful but insufficient performance critera. Focusing on British Columbia, Canada, this paper demonstrates a surprising negative relationship between cost and achievement and seeks a third element--school ethos or goodness--as a potential predictor of school…

School organizations need to make changes in the organizational culture of schools in order to achieve excellence. An analogy between cognitive systems and organizational belief systems helps to explain the ways that beliefs and values are structured in school organizations. (MLF)

Grade-span configuration refers to the range of grades within a school. Grade span is an important issue to various factions in public education, including advocates of middle schools and rural educators concerned with the association between grade fragmentation and school consolidation. This digest focuses on research that has examined the…

Near destruction of the city's school plant had a single merit: Londoners could rebuild from scratch. One result is England's highly regarded comprehensive secondary school system. (Author)

Studies in five Missouri districts identified eight characteristics deterring change and constituting an "informal covenant" between teachers and principals. Eight corresponding conditions essential to change include relating changes to a school's culture, knowing local procedures and sensitive issues, recognizing moments when changes are…

Many features of our secondary schools are static, self-destructive, and depersonalizing. Rather than organizing the middle school along secondary school lines, using the elementary school model, with some obvious modifications, provides a more humanistic approach. (Author/SJL)

Examined the nature and extent of the school principal's role in affecting student learning. Found no direct effects from the principal's instructional leadership, but did find an indirect influence on overall school effectiveness through actions that shape the school's learning environment. (ET)

Examines the history of middle level education. Offers suggestions to promote responsive middle level education: (1) building a knowledge base about early adolescent development; (2) assuring that organizational structures, programs, and practices function appropriately; (3) advocating the needs of early adolescents; and (4) involving middle level…

Factor analysis of data from 66 inservice and 79 preservice elementary teachers in Cyprus revealed that future teachers had lower satisfaction with the headmaster's role, school organization, and school climate. Satisfaction with teacher incentives and work conditions was lower for inservice teachers. (Contains 20 references.) (SK)

Summarizes Dewey's essay "The Educational Situation: As Concerns the Elementary School" and discusses implications for today's elementary school curriculum. (PKP)

Discusses the development of the Montessori Farm School in Huntsburg, Ohio, summarizing prototype activities of the Erdkinder project and discussing psychological and pedagogical outcomes. Considers areas of struggle in how the school opened and includes diagrams for linking pedagogical and work experiences. Describes community transformations…

Responding to the need for a comprehensive framework for monitoring and improving school effectiveness in local and international contexts, this paper presents the findings of a case study of one effective and one ineffective school. Data were derived from a survey of schools, document analysis, and field observations. The case schools are…