Neither hyperrationalist nor decentralist reform strategies will seriously improve educational quality. Successful reform strategies incorporate three dimensions: the authorized movement, regional or localist responses, and conversation, involving changes in school rhetoric. States must create a context for developing organizational competence at…

Focus groups are planned each year to gather regional needs assessment information on school restructuring as part of the Research for Better Schools (RBS) planning process. In spring 1991, RBS staff gathered rich, contextual data from five focus group discussions held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Newark, New Jersey; the District of Columbia;…

Examines the problems associated with maintaining ordinary senior middle schools (high schools) in China. Focuses specifically on the difficulties of paying equal attention to vocational and college preparatory programs. (BSR)

Research on effective teaching, combined with findings of the effective schools movement, is calling for teacher empowerment and new leadership opportunities for principals. This article describes a leadership pyramid embodying symbolic, cultural, instructional, and managerial functions. Principals will still operate at the top (symbolic and…

Middle schools are here to stay. The overriding purpose of middle-level education continues to be that of providing programs based on the unique characteristics, needs, and interests of middle-level students. (Author/TE)

This book describes changes that must be made in central-office administration to facilitate the movement to site-based management. It is intended for educational administrators in central administration or for those who are planning to work as superintendents, business managers, or supervisors of curriculum and instruction. The book covers all…

Although the (British) government's "league tables" may be an inappropriate method of comparing schools' relative effectiveness, analysis of the 1992 examination results points to Catholic schools' apparent success. A summary of the limited research evidence on Catholic school effectiveness suggests that a rigorous study of their…

Reacts to articles by Charles Bidwell, Paul Kingston, and Carolyn Riehl in the 2001 theme issue of Sociology of Education. Argues that Bidwell and Kingston's articles show the strengths that the educational sociology field has exhibited over the years. Evaluates Riehl's article as a movement toward examination of the current intellectually…

School-based management refers to a form of educational administration in which the school becomes the primary unit for decision-making. The book is structured into five parts. In part 1, international developments in school-based decision-making and management are documented and analyzed. Described are developments in Australia, Canada, France,…

Based on a review of recent research on school effects and workplace psychology, this paper hypothesizes that three core concepts comprise teacher organizational commitment: (1) belief in school goals and student learning ability; (2) intention to remain an active member of the school; and (3) willingness to exert extra effort on the school's…

A study was done to determine the extent to which effectiveness among a nationally representative sample of two-year colleges differs in terms of their dominant type of organizational culture. The study was based on a survey of 1,332 faculty and administrators in 30 colleges. Of these, 662 usable responses were received. Analysis yielded the…

The call to restructure schools is born from a new set of challenges facing U.S. society as well as its education system. This paper describes the process followed by 12 schools that participated in meeting the challenges in the "Schools of Tomorrow...Today" (ST/T) project, supported by the New York City Teacher Centers Consortium (TCC) of the…

The development of school culture within a comprehensive school in northern England, Deangate School, is examined in this case study, with a focus on the process of self-definition. Two aspects of school culture emerged as significant to the process of "becoming": generic culture, that which is common across secondary schools; and unique…

A second wave of educational reform is closely scrutinizing fundamental issues (structure, organization, management, curriculum, and instruction) and calling for at least partial restructuring of the public school system. After presenting a scenario of an ideally restructured elementary school, this paper explores the…

Outlines a proactive school organization model useful for special need populations (handicapped, and linguistically and culturally different learners) because it enables all participants to collaborate on a systematic, four-phase change process: data collection, needs assessment, development of interventions, and evaluation of outcomes. The focus…