This report by the Governor's Commission on Excellence in Education proposes to restructure middle school education (grades 6, 7, and 8) in Virginia. The restructuring process has two components: the identification of Vanguard Schools and the development and implementation of a restructuring process in other schools. Schools that seek Vanguard…

This review is a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of education in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government high schools, addressing basic questions and making recommendations concerning goals, school structure, provision of resources, curriculum, and educational outcomes. It is divided into 13 chapters covering…

In July 1969, an Israeli parliament decision instigated an educational reform focused on curriculum development, teacher education, new buildings, new equipment, and a change from 8 to 6 years in elementary school and from 4 to 6 years in secondary school. Dropouts, useless curricula, job market demands for better education, and integration and…

Several major reports on the status of education in the United States have been presented to the public and to educators and government bodies in recent years. Nine of these reports provide the source material for this document on the state of the search for educational excellence: Adler's "Paideia Proposal,""A Nation at…

This study sought to determine characteristics of schools and districts that enjoy the public's strong confidence and to explore how these characteristics are created and retained. A screening procedure produced useable data from 181 "high-confidence" public schools, 30 private schools, and 45 school districts. As part of a preliminary…

Emphasizing outcome-oriented planning and management, innovation, and flexibility, this document discusses the renewal needed in Missouri public education in the 1990s and offers suggestions for educational change. Four major recommendations are presented that include creating a performance-oriented system; increasing prevention efforts; providing…

This study documents the innovative utilization of resources in 16 exemplary schools and provides recommendations for staff deployment and school organization. Two introductory chapters place the report in the context of a wider study of which it is part and describe its conceptual framework. The following two chapters review the debate on case…

The Copernican Plan is a way to organize high schools on the basis of research and experience concerning more effective and efficient instruction. Research indicates that large-block scheduling has proven to be very successful. In the plan, each student will enroll in one class at a time for about 4 hours each day for a period of 30 days. An…

This paper outlines the types of schooling programs that will build on the strengths of educationally disadvantaged students to bring them into the educational mainstream as well as to prepare them for economic, political, and social participation. Without intervention on behalf of the disadvantaged, the following results may occur: (1) a dual…

The study reported in this monograph, which was conducted jointly by the Australian Council for Educational Research and the Education Department of Victoria, investigated the organization and curriculum of government secondary schools in Victoria, Australia, and how those factors influence what teachers do and what views students have of the…

This paper reports a 2-year study of education policy that sought to identify, describe, and analyze the essential building blocks of state-level education policy and to discover the factors responsible for creating differences among states in their use of these elements to construct an overall framework for school regulation and support. Sample…