This paper describes an elementary school's attempts to give its students a "moral education." The school's program emphasized participation and discussion while stressing rules and principles of cooperation, trust, community, autonomy, and self-reliance. School personnel initiated a more democratic environment by moving the locus of…

Focusing on the area of student participation, this paper considers the findings of a research project conducted by a team at the University of Western Sydney, Nepean, and funded by the New South Wales Department of School Education. The project was broadly focused on investigating the dynamics of communication within the school communities of…

Questionnaires were mailed to parents of the 55 sixth graders in the 1988-89 year-round school pilot program in Conroe Independent School District in Texas and to those of sixth graders on the district's traditional calendar to determine parent perceptions and satisfaction regarding the year-round school calendar. The document also reviews the…

This study describes four middle schools which educate poor and minority students more effectively than most middle schools in the New York City public school system. These schools were studied in order to define the characteristics associated with academic effectiveness. Chapter 1 provides the demographics and the test score results for each…

This guide for middle school administrators is built upon the concept of administrators training one another using scripted workshop materials. Written to be read aloud and adapted for individual use, the guide provides information for development of effective middle school programs. This workshop material is organized into six sections.…

A number of researchers, as well as practicing teachers and administrators, have reached similar conclusions about what makes a school effective: (1) the behavior of teachers, administrators, and students; (2) the quality, as well as the quantity of effort, materials, and time; and (3) the curriculum--both what is taught and how it is taught. The…

In an application of contingency theory, data from 45 Arizona schools were analyzed to determine the relationships between three sets of independent variables (organizational structure, leadership style, and environmental characteristics) and the dependent variable (organizational effectiveness as perceived by principals and teachers). Contingency…

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which principals, teachers, parents, and students report that the recommendations of the 1981 Middle School Report were being implemented in each of the five middle schools in the North York (Ontario) school system. The 13 recommendations addressed such issues as the philosophy of the middle…

The National Governors' Association Task Force on Parent Involvement and Choice believes that public education's current structure cannot deal effectively with the nation's diversity and demand for compulsory education. Key recommendations include adopting legislation that allows families statewide choice of schools and junior and senior…

Review of 60 multivariate studies conducted in the Third World reporting on the aggregate influence of the school on academic achievement versus the influence of the family background. The relative influence of alternative school inputs and organizational practices is assessed, and a framework for evaluation is included. (SLD)

Discusses the relevance to class size policy of research studies on effective schools, mastery learning, organizational theory, and effective teaching. Class size should be matched to student needs. (BJV)

Summarizes a three-year Consortium for Policy Research in Education project to identify conditions in U.S., Canadian, and Australian schools that promote high performance through school-based management. Findings showed that SBM requires redesign of the whole school organization. Success depended on how schools decentralized four key resources:…

Although the effort to restructure the American high school is in high gear, little attention has been directed to how changes in high schools' organizational structures might affect the dynamic of equity in student learning--the ways that schooling outcomes reflect students' social background. This paper aims to identify organizational properties…

Most of the industrialized world retains an obsolete, tracked, multitiered public education system that prepares some children for university and others for blue-collar jobs. This educational design neglects changes in technology, family structure, and community life, and its bureaucratized management values uniformity and process over initiative…

A study involving 55 elementary schools and 18 secondary schools was undertaken to examine the relationships among teachers' perceptions of school organizational coupling structures, school environmental robustness, and three school effectiveness measures (school organizational effectiveness, school achievement, and average daily attendance). The…