Describes the creation and design of Co-NECT, a computer and networking project created by Bolt Beranek and Newman Educational Technologies to help improve teaching and learning in K-12 schools. Discusses student and teacher experiences, evaluations of experiences, necessary school infrastructures, and the organization and politics of schools and…

For this study, middle-school teachers, students, and principals completed surveys on organizational climate, quality of life, and use of recommended middle-school practices. Student attitudes toward school life were only slightly affected by openness in faculty relationships; they were more affected by classroom organization and use of accepted…

Considers issues of school choice and school autonomy. Parents, society as a whole, and the educator team of each school should have a lead role in answering the basic questions about schooling. Examples from schools in other countries illustrate some new approaches to school autonomy. (SLD)

Advocates applying the theories of Anton S. Makarenko, an early influential Soviet educator, to the practice of school administration in the Soviet Union. Reviews Makarenko's theories, focusing on the establishment of a unified labor collective school, responsible for students' political socialization and character development. Stresses the…

Reviews the system of elementary education in the Republic of Ireland. Examines demographic data on the nature and size of school population and the organization of elementary education; describes curriculum at the junior and senior grade levels; presents research findings relating to reading, mathematics, science; and considers teacher and…

Reports on the effect of external political pressure on the distribution of influence in school districts. Focuses specifically on the influence exercised by school-level administrators and teachers on school-level policy. Expounds on a theory of local variation across institutional organizations using the High School and Beyond study. (CFR)

The purpose of this study was to examine the startup of a charter elementary school specifically designed to be fully inclusive. Twenty-one adult stakeholders, including parents, teachers, staff, and an administrator, were interviewed and asked a series of questions designed to solicit information about what they identified as strengths and…

This article agues that ideological power plays an important role in education and that it is part of a general trend in policy and social sciences to underestimate ideological and overestimate the role of political and economic power. The article sketches a concept of power in general and especially of ideological power based primarily on the…

This publication introduces school personnel concerned with early intervention with potential school dropouts to a promising school-based interprofessional case management model that has been successfully field-tested in 25 very different elementary school communities of Idaho and Washington State over the past 7 years: C-STARS (Center for the…

In the 21st century learning should be continuously available. This book traces the evolution of year-round school schedules from 1840-1980 in the United States and documents the many innovative educational programs of the past. It also describes the status, philosophy, calendars, and strategies of the 1990s and offers forecasts for continuous…

This publication, part of a series initiated in 1986, describes effective educational practices of schools that serve disadvantaged students and adds information on recent research about the characteristics of these schools to support the review. Following an introduction, four types of attributes are examined in four sections. Section 1 considers…

This report envisions Texas schools using one another as resources and the campus planning process as a vehicle for implementing research-based concepts and practices in the middle grades. Since Texas' restructuring effort will not succeed without commitment to staff development from all levels of the education community, the need for teacher and…

Factors that contribute to excellence in education, as well as those that have contributed to the failure of change efforts, are the subject of this document. It provides a summary of the literature on reform efforts; effective schools; new organizational perspectives derived from the business sector; organizational restructuring being tested in…

Opinions of middle school students, called "transescents," were studied in an effort to provide feedback to adminstrators, parents, and teachers involved in program development in a school district with a K-5, 6-8, and 9-12 grade level configuration. Participants were 200 students from a school district in east central Michigan. A…

Decentralization efforts in Australia after the publishing of the "Better Schools" report in 1987 are described in this paper. An overview of the implementation process concludes that the transition is halfway completed. However, the process has encountered strong resistance. Authority to determine the means, but not ends, was devolved…