Protests the trend to turn cultural analysis into a managerial tool by arguing that our research on school culture has only skimmed the cultural surface, and demonstrating the promise of language analysis for research on school culture. (BJV)

The central need in education is to recognize that many of the gains in pupil achievement, as measured in test scores, may not be sustainable if educators continue to be fixated on short-term outcomes and plans. This paper addresses the key concerns of how educators sustain and develop schools through the deployment of effective planning…

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)

Summarizes a case study examining how a nongraded, multiage schooling structure differs from a traditional grade structure, based on participants' perceptions. The ungraded school studied used responsive instruction, fostered student leadership and collaboration, created a family of learners, and encouraged student independence and responsibility.…

Proposes a conceptual framework based on research on planned organizational change, which can help groups within the school community identify inequity and create alternative organization patterns. Emphasizes critical issues, sub-groups within the school community, and problem-specific tasks. (FMW)

Analyzes and compares research on the Effective Schools Movement and the New York (New York) City School Improvement Project. Proposes a synthesis of the two traditions that can be used to implement equity-based educational innovations. (FMW)

Examined the relation of school leadership changes to school configuration (climate, structure, and student population characteristics), based on survey data from 122 elementary schools. Schools having changes in principals had greater use, more new and minority students, slightly lower scores on criterion-referenced tests, and less discipline.…

This checklist is intended to be used as a rating instrument to assist in the design and description of classroom learning environments that provide for student diversity, including the mainstreaming of students with disabilities. Specific purposes of the checklist are to provide a framework for describing the organizational characteristics of…

This booklet provides suggestions for reassessing, modifying, and arranging child care center environments to best serve the needs of children and staff. The booklet notes that a well-planned environment can provide young children with appropriate and challenging learning experiences within a consistent and secure setting. Such an environment also…

This speech addresses the issues related to the education of Hispanic females. For Hispanic females, school failure has meant the perpetuation of poverty, the paucity of role models and mentors for the next generation, and the perpetuation of limited and stereotypic places for them in society. Based on relevant research, an examination of…

Prepared to assist teachers who are using the case in class discussion, this case study describes a suburban, college-preparatory high school located in the pseudonymously named "Northwood," a midwestern "rust belt" city characterized by rapidly shifting demographics and a growing commercial tax base. Although the city is now…

To help young adolescents reach their potential, middle schools must provide high quality intellectual climates that foster the development of adaptive skills which students can use throughout their lives. Accordingly, practical advice is presented for 12 interrelated dimensions of schooling at the middle level that merit the highest priority…

A year-long ethnographic case study was conducted primarily to investigate the developmental nature of children's spontaneous grouping activities in an elementary school setting. Participant observation and related methods were conducted for two days a week (on average) in a small, traditional parochial school located in a lower-class integrated…

This literature review focuses on the role of schools'"common properties" in planned educational change and everyday school operations. Common properties include those features that are either present in all schools, relatively stable and unchanging, or central to the concept of schools today. The author first examines five ways in which…

The concern of this book is with the underlying forces responsible for the very existence of schools and for what schools accomplish. The author offers a "theory of spontaneous schooling," in which mechanisms for academic growth are found when adults and children are in contact in almost any kind of administrative arrangement. Schooling is seen as…