The call to restructure American education has captured the imagination of reformers across the country, yet it has not produced a coherent agenda for changing schools. This study investigates how the structure of secondary schools affects learning. Using a sample of 9,631 students in 789 U.S. high schools with 3 waves of data from the National…

This document, a two-volume report, provides in volume 1 the final longitudinal evaluation of the New York City Dropout Prevention Initiative (DPI), 1985-86 through 1987-88. (The second volume comprises appendices containing summaries of each previous evaluation for this time period.) The DPI was implemented in 13 high schools and 29 feeder middle…

The social climates of two markedly different high schools are examined in this study. Although both schools reside in the same district and have the same community standards, they are different in curriculum concepts, problem-solving strategies, and size. The two schools, one a typical high school and one a smaller public alternative high school,…

This curriculum guide outlines resource materials, lesson plans, and learning activities that may be used by subject area teachers with their students in marking the 100th anniversary of Boys and Girls High School. The plans presented correspond to the school's more recent history (1892-1979) and are designed to meet the requirements and standards…

This curriculum guide outlines resource materials, lesson plans, and learning activities that may be used by subject area teachers with their students in marking the 100th anniversary of Boys and Girls High School. An overview of the school's history is provided and contains a sampling of events, personalities, and structures which gave shape to…

The analysis of the planning for an implementation of an alternative high school in a large urban school system is the focus of this study. Interview data are used. This investigation draws on, and compliments, the previous literature on implementation. While most of the earlier studies look at failures, this one is based on an instance of…

The conference program included four alternative schools which are really unique in that each of the four schools operates with the expressed approval of the board of education or school committee in its particular community and each receives some portion of its support, both financial and moral, from the same board of education or school…

The purposes of the project reported here were (1) to explore and describe the formal and informal relationships among black and white students in a large, racially mixed, urban high school, and (2) to attempt to explain how those relationships affect student behavior, administrator and teacher behavior, and other facets of the school…

The reforms that are most consistent with current arrangements for school governance and administration are unlikely to foster the organizational and professional climates most conducive to student achievement. But the kinds of reforms that might engender better school conditions are inconsistent with existing controls and are, therefore, unlikely…

No effective professional training can be given without ample opportunity for observation of the ordinary processes of teaching, school organization and management. However, at first, few university classes, schools, or departments made any provision for such observation of practice. Experience has, however, finally shown that high-school…

Surveys teachers and guidance counselors in eight large urban and suburban high schools and measures frequency of dialogue with one another. Argues that organizational solutions are needed to promote contact between teachers and counselors. Concludes that teachers' perceptions of the counselor role creates incongruence between counselor cognition…

A two-year qualitative study of mathematics and English teachers in two urban comprehensive high schools investigated how teacher community serves as resource for teacher development and school reform. A school engaged in whole-school reform sustained high teacher commitment and school-level community by constituting professional community…

Data from the High School and Beyond study--restricted to over 800 regular public school students from a population of 18,684 who completed test batteries in both their sophomore and senior years--are analyzed in this report. Included in the cluster of 12 school variables are school policies, school resources, and school practices. The…

Mesa Verde High School was constructed in 1974 and is the last high school built in the San Juan (California) Unified District. It serves students in grades 9 through 12 and has an open enrollment policy. Mesa Verde operates on a year-round schedule with students divided into three tracks. Basically, each track is in session for 9 weeks and then…

This report gives the results of a 1977 survey of secondary school principals by the National Institute of Education, Washington D.C. The purpose of the study was to empirically describe high school organization and programs and how they are affected by federal, state, and district characteristics. The results of the survey counteract many…