Centerville has attempted to enhance personalized education at the high school level by gaining the advantage of small schools, yet having the facilities to house 2,700 students on a single site. The school facility includes a central core and two academic wings. Each of these three units functions as an individual school. The core unit also…

Topeka West High School has approximately 1,500 students divided into four houses of 375 students. An effort is made to randomly distribute the incoming sophomores equally among the four houses. Each house has an assistant principal, a counselor, and a staff of 8 to 10 teachers representing the instructional areas of English, social studies, and…

This publication is the second in a series of reports on educational buildings. This report deals with the multioption school, a special type of secondary school designed to offer a broad choice of educational options and activities in response to changing educational and social needs. The report analyzes problems raised by the design and…

The educational boom of the past two decades, prospects for the next 10 years, and the complex of policy issues facing member countries of the OECD are surveyed in this report. Topics discussed include record enrollments, educational efficiency, dropouts and the school-leaving age, new secondary school structures, implications for higher education…

An American professor reports on English Primary Schools. His comments are based upon observations made on a variety of English educational institutions as a result of his role as visiting scholar at the Institute of Education at the University of London. Highlighted in his report is the underlying value conflict between Plowden-oriented primary…

This program description of Project ORDER outlines the design of the reorganization of the B. C. Elmore Middle School in the North Forest Independent School District, Houston, Texas. The school is located in a low economic, predominantly black neighborhood. Prior to Project ORDER, the school experienced a fairly high incidence of disorderly…

To examine the effects of advancing ninth graders to some form of high school, a suburban Midwestern school district was studied for ninth graders' perceptions of the senior-high environment, noting also their participation in school activities and the use of controlled substances. (JW)

Translated from the German by W. D. Halls.

Outlines the Max Planck Institute's exhaustive report on West German educational trends since World War II. An analysis of the effects of changing social values and demographic factors on educational policy, school organization, enrollment trends, curriculum design, and teaching methods is included. (AM)

The rationale behind the traditional grade organization pattern of pre-primary, primary, secondary, and tertiary is discussed, as is the trend to extend compulsory schooling later into the teenage years. The impact of these divisions and of compulsory schooling itself on equal educational opportunity is considered. (SJL)

The author describes aspects of the size and organizational structure of high schools which reduce human contact and have a negative influence on the sense of community, the development of relationships, and the formation of personal identity. (Author/SJL)

Organizing time into equal periods and moving at intervals from task to task is inefficient, yet most schools use this rigid scheduling method. Better ways of operating include the following: (1) teach required and elective subjects together; (2) devise double period seminars; and (3) combine back to back scheduling with team teaching. (VM)

Reports on a study of student characteristics and the school organization to confirm the findings of previous studies on the importance of individual characteristics to track placement. Concludes that systematic differences among schools suggest that track placement is more complex than previous research has shown. (CFR)

Supports Linda Darling-Hammond's contention that many adolescent difficulties are not intrinsic, but stem from mismatches between teens' developmental needs and experiences provided by most secondary schools. A depersonalized, punitive, rote-learning ambience cannot meet adolescents' needs for affiliation, autonomy, and cognitive challenges.…

Uses both qualitative and quantitative procedures to study select "Gymnasien" in Thuringia and Bavaria. Explores the influence the Gymnasium has had on individual schools' developments. Examines how "long-term mental formations" determine the transformation process. Examines differences between the school structures of…