This paper focuses on variables to be considered in implementing the team approach to planned change in educational organizations. The first part deals with team considerations -- recruitment and selection, composition, training, and future roles of members in the client system. The second section presents various strategies and tactics for…

This paper examines school productivity research--research regarding school effects on students, divided into two broad classes according to whether the dependent variable is (a) later life consequences or (b) immediate student outcomes. The discussion is organized in four sections. First, six major issues in the methodology of school productivity…

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…

Reviews college and university catalogs for public relations courses. Finds 578 departments offering such courses. Notes that the majority of such courses are offered in communication departments. Takes issue with the findings of an earlier study. (SR)

The purpose of education should not be to fill students with objective knowledge but to develop in students the ability to process information in ways that enhance understanding, according to the process model of curriculum development proposed by Lawrence Stenhouse. Defining education thus does not allow for the establishment of fixed educational…

The commonalities and uniquenesses of the organizational structural patterns in 52 colleges of education in land grant unitversities are analyzed. Variables studied include relation of college to university, organizational structures, span of control, single executive, governance, and instructional units. A special section analyzes 34…

A study conducted in the winter of 1973 attempted to investigate how elementary school principals in innovative schools perceive their roles compared to the role perceptions of principals in more traditional school settings. Thirty-two schools were designated as innovative by a panel of four elementary school principals. It was assumed that the…

A principal responds negatively to "A Nation at Risk" and more positively to the Carnegie Foundation's "High School." He describes how the alternative Jefferson County (CO) Open High School puts some of the Carnegie Foundation's recommendations into practice and details the school curriculum, class atmosphere, apprenticeships,…

An analysis of data showed that British students in local education authorities which have retained selection to a greater or lesser extent did not achieve better examination results than students in those authorities which have gone fully comprehensive. (RM)

This report presents a literature review and conceptual model summarizing the influence of peer effects on learning outcomes. The report describes the approach to the review and provides a theoretical account of the environments, mechanisms, and processes that mediate learning among peers. It then summarizes the literature on compositional effects…

Explains fundamental shifts dominating education's transition at technical, managerial, and institutional levels. Since the first edition of the "Handbook of Research on Educational Administration," school administration has been reconfigured and recultured. Social justice, democratic community, and school improvement comprise major…

To be financially viable, Catholic elementary schools with enrollments of under 100 students need to recognize their smallness and seek structures and methods appropriate to their size. This book addresses the needs of very small schools with current or potential multigrade classrooms, and describes organizational and instructional approaches…

This paper explores three research issues on adolescent development using an elaborated effects model: (1) Are there consistent sex main effects on a variety of student outcomes? (2) What are the relative influences of family status, family processes, school processes, and individual ability on academic and nonacademic behavior of males and…

THIS PAPER DISCUSSES THE FIELD TESTING OF RESEARCH AND INSTRUCTION UNITS IN OPERATION IN A NUMBER OF WISCONSIN SCHOOLS. THE UNIT IS A REORGANIZED SCHOOL STRUCTURE WHICH IS MADE UP OF A LEARNING SPECIALIST LEADER, TEACHERS, PARAPROFESSIONALS, AND STUDENTS. THE MAJOR AIMS OF THIS EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION ARE (1) TO DEVELOP AND MAINTAIN AN…

This paper summarizes studies conducted to predict various educational outputs or other measures of quality from measures of student and community input and educational processes, groups the studies by the type of output measure used, and searches for trends in the results. The data are arranged in five columns in an extensive chart. The first…