A 1989 Carnegie Corporation report called for major reforms in early adolescent education and sharply criticized the middle school concept. To compound the social displacement problem, middle schools are often created to satisfy budgetary requirements and shifting enrollment trends, not to meet children's needs. Moving fifth graders is ill…

Three very powerful drivers of curriculum policy are converging to shape what is taught in American schools: the increasing power of testing and standardized accountability models to determine curriculum, the pressure for cultural literacy, and the educational restructuring movement, which could subordinate curriculum to school organization…

Genuine school reform demands the redistribution of staff, space, and time within individual schools. Parallel block scheduling lets each teacher work with smaller groups of students daily. Sample scheduling and reading placements are provided. Includes 10 references. (MLH)

To implement curriculum changes successfully, five guidelines should be followed: changes should be research-based; successful innovation requires organizational changes; innovations must be feasible for the average teacher; implementation efforts must be organic, not bureaucratic; and a definite curriculum plan is essential. Guidelines for…

Argues that there is an inextricable link between scholarly productivity and instructional quality. Discusses implications of divorcing "Speech" from the discipline of communication. Proposes an 11-point plan to separate departments that wish to participate in an emerging discipline of communication. (SR)

Reliance on the "delegation model" in public education has created a fundamental gap between families and schools. The Accelerated Schools Project has helped two poverty-afflicted, minority-populated elementary schools in the San Francisco Bay Area enlist parents and mobilize community agencies to achieve shared improvement goals.…

Imposed legalistic school disciplinary codes are ineffectual and undemocratic. The focus and form of legalization in school discipline systems must shift to rule formation processes. The importance of evaluating impediments to participation is discussed. (BJV)

Surveyed 155 secondary school counselors from schools organized along three different structures (high schools, junior high schools, combined junior-senior high schools) to examine how the counselors perceived their roles. Counselors in combined schools reported spending greater amounts of time doing educational and vocational guidance.…

Presents interview and survey data collected from samples of economically disadvantaged Australian secondary school students and school leavers. Previous claims that students are unwilling to remain in school because they dislike schooling need closer examination. Blaming school structure and lack of teacher encouragement is not supported by…

Only one overriding issue faces today's educators: the transformation to communication learning systems that will make schools obsolescent. Educators must involve their communities in "imagineering" the long-term future and dismantling the existing system, with its seven period days, ABCDF report cards, group-paced instruction, and…

School restructuring efforts in San Diego (California) Public Schools began with seminars on restructuring followed by school board and teacher association cooperation in changing traditional roles and responsibilities. (MLF)

Decentralization proponents argue that autonomous decision making at the school level will significantly affect teaching and learning, leading to improved outcomes. The problem is to distinguish real autonomous decision making from a degree of managerialism that decentralizes administration, rather than decision making. A five-part analytical…

Agrees with Brian Rowan's article on learning and teaching research in the same issue of "Educational Administration Quarterly." Builds on Rowan's contributions by presenting three major ideas: the cognitive perspective has yet to define adequately a core technology of teaching; foundational understandings of learning and teaching are inextricably…

Describes the interrelationship between school organization and classroom instructional style. Characterizes the bureaucratic and the open systems models of school organization in terms of three major dimensions of school life: administrator, teacher, and student behaviors; work design and tasks; and space-time allocations. The bureaucratic…

This paper identifies fundamental characteristics of successful heterogeneous public schools, outlining examples of practices that enable schools to accommodate greater student variance. Characteristics include, among others, outcomes-based instructional models; utilization of peer power; cooperative learning; opportunities for professional…