Curricular change requires fundamental changes in school organization to be effective. Argues that this can be accomplished "without undue strain and anxiety for the staff". (Author/RK)

The problems of education stem from system design, not faulty operation. Traditional education is based on autocratic principles, or order without freedom. The innovative Individual Education design, based on democratic principles, gives students control over their own learning and promotes the development of responsibility, respect,…

In this report, the Commission on General Education in the 21st Century--a panel of University of California faculty and administrators--issues a call for renewed attention to general education in research universities, highlighting specific reforms for University of California campuses. In addition to analyzing the historical, institutional, and…

While the concept of choice is not new to families able to take advantage of the available options, the idea of giving parents nearly total freedom in selecting their children's public school is new. Proponents of choice claim it results in higher test scores, fewer dropouts, and more involved parents. Critics maintain that there is no proof of…

Describes that nature of organizational development in this district and provides background information. By the close of the 1975-76 school year the district will have moved from a district centered to a school-based management system. (AM)

Failure has frequently been the result of attempts to implement new educational technologies within a school organization that evolved in response to an older technology--the technology of the classroom, the blackboard, and the textbook. This failure may be due in part to specific causes in individual cases, but the pattern of failure suggests…

The trend away from closed teaching systems and toward open learning systems between 1965 and 1975 led to the introduction of a number of isolated innovations in Regis High School, a Catholic school in New York City. To provide a sense of coherence and direction to these changes, the faculty designed a comprehensive model for program development…

Applying matrix organizational structure to the organization of special education services is the focus of this paper. Beginning with a list of ways in which educational organizations differ from business or military organizations, the author warns that educators must be cautious when transferring organizational structures from other disciplines…

This paper argues that research on innovation and organizational change should shift its focus from the impact of individuals to that of organizational structure and environmental factors. The results of two research projects carried out in 1968-69 and 1969-70 on organizational change in school districts are presented to support the premise that…

This report summarizes the procedures and results of a 2-year project carried our collaboratively by a university-based research and development center and a nearby high school. The first section summarizes the setting and rationale of the project (the Focused Flexibility project.) The ideas basic to the project were (1) a school should try to…

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…

Individually Guided Education (IGE) is a comprehensive system of schooling designed to produce high pupil achievement by accepting differences in learning rates, styles, and levels of motivation. Some features of IGE include: a multiunit organization rather than age-grade levels, instructional programing for individual students, and selected…

Presents a case study of student involvement in decision-making at Chicago's Metro High School and proposes a supportive role for research, evaluation, and feedback to strengthen alternative schools within a framework of shared analysis and decision-making. (Editor/GB)

The author describes the operations of the Gill School of Bernardsville, New Jersey, where every student takes each course for five hours a day, five days a week, for a five week period. Any six blocks constitute a full year's work. Results indicate that concentrated learning creates greater subject understanding. (Author/JB)