In successful schools, a significantly larger percentage of students graduate with knowledge, skills, and a positive attitude toward citizenship and work than students in other schools of comparable socioeconomic status. Using data from the "Tennessee Looks at Its Schools" project, which was based on fourth-grade Stanford Achievement Tests administered in May 1980 to six selected Tennessee elementary schools, this study addressed the norm-setting behavior of principals in effective...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Administrator Characteristics, Administrator Effectiveness, Administrator Role,...
Beginning in December of 1988, and continuing through March 1989, 24 educators (20 teachers and 4 administrators) met for a series of 5 full-day sessions in the Capital Region of New York State to discuss selected themes regarding the state's high schools in the 1990s. Part of the significance of this report, which contains the results of the educators' deliberations including their observations and recommendations, rests on the fact that it came primarily from those who, on a daily basis,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Curriculum Development, Educational Improvement, Educational...
Shared governance empowers teachers to increase their autonomy and contributes to their role in determining school policy and influencing student outcomes. This paper, exploratory in nature, describes the policy impact of shared governance in nine autonomous schools where the participants at each site have provided some insight into policy issues. It also focuses on the "Empowerment Project," a 3-year effort in nine school districts, nationwide, to empower professionals to empower...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary Secondary Education, Governance, Participative Decision Making,...
Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) Archive
407
407
ERIC ED319105: Educational Excellence Act of 1989. Hearing on S. 695 To Promote Excellence in American Education by Recognizing and Rewarding Schools, Teachers, and Students for Their Outstanding Achievements, Enhancing Parental Choice, Encouraging the Study of Science, Mathematics, and Engineering, and for Other Purposes, before the Subcommittee on Education, Arts and Humanities of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources. United States Senate, One Hundred First Congress, First Session.
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The proceedings are presented of the hearing before the Congressional Subcommittee on Education, Arts and the Humanities of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources. They reveal both the strengths and limitations of the proposed Educational Excellence Act of 1989. The proposed act would promote excellence in American education by: recognizing and rewarding schools, teachers, and students for their outstanding achievements; enhancing parental choice; encouraging the study of science,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Academic Standards, Educational Change, Educational...
This book focuses on the forces that will shape education politics and policy into the 21st century. Ten chapters written by prominent educators center on the roles to be played by education professionals, local citizen groups, government agencies, and business leaders in shaping education policy, responses to racial and ethnic segregation, school restructuring, technology utilization, and the development of education politics and policy. The introductory chapter by Margaret E. Goertz examines...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Administration, Educational Change, Educational Policy, Educational...
At the education "summit" held in 1989 in Charlottesville, Virginia, the President and the Governors called for the establishment of clear national performance goals designed to make the United States internationally competitive. Six national education goals, to be reached by the year 2000, were identified as the first step in carrying out that commitment. The goals are as follows: (1) All children in America will start school ready to learn; (2) the high school graduation rate will...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Assessment, Educational Improvement, Educational Objectives, Educational...
This paper examines current practice for youth at risk of not successfully making the transition to adulthood in six urban secondary schools. It describes the major elements of at-risk policies and programs and raises concerns about the strategies currently in place at the sites. The following strategies are discussed: (1) curriculum and instruction intervention; (2) social and support services; (3) staff development; (4) world-of-work experiences; (5) collaboration with other agencies; and (6)...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Black Students, Cooperative Programs, Coordination,...
Recent educational reform initiatives have caused the state to examine its role in regulation of schools, and the current regulatory processes have been found to be in need of revision. The current system, in which the state grants "recognition" to schools that meet its standards based on whether they meet a rigidly defined set of criteria, is capable of addressing only the most general of differences between schools and their districts: Full Recognition, Probationary Recognition, and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Board of Education Policy, Board of Education Role, Educational Assessment,...
The widening mismatch between the skills of the work force and the skill demands of the work place underlie the need for school restructuring. Fourth in a series, this document builds on and extends the issues discussed in the National Governors' Association's (NGA) previous publications and reports on case studies of early restructuring efforts initiated by five states. The report contains four sections. Section 1 provides an introduction, a definition of restructuring, a description of what...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Decentralization, Educational Change, Educational Innovation, Educational Policy,...
Different groups have different ideas about how schools should be restructured. Although decision-making and control are increasingly shared with other groups, the principal remains most accountable. Innovative leadership styles, such as the inhouse critic and the master generalist, address issues of curriculum totality, function, and goals. Restructuring education involves abandoning some structural metaphors, such as the linear staircase model, and considering alternatives. The nonlinear,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Curriculum Design, Curriculum Development, Educational Change, Educational...
A synthesis of the research on educational improvement programs of the 60s and 70s provides the framework for this paper. Restructured schools featured the use of team teaching and shared decision making, and changes in curriculum content and delivery. Problem areas centered on role-related issues, ambiguous means of implementation, and lack of fit between context and innovation. Santanya argued that knowledge gained from the past must be used to avoid repetition of the same mistakes. A review...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Decentralization, Educational Change, Educational Environment, Educational...
The strategies for school based management and shared decision making are seldom studied together. A written survey administered to practitioners currently using one or both of the strategies provides information for the implementation of shared decision making. Methodological limitations include a sample of 230 site personnel with a response rate of 30 percent. Findings identify eight barriers, institutional and noninstitutional, to changing traditional behavior. Four recommendations are...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Decision Making, Elementary Secondary Education, Institutional Autonomy,...
The implementation and evaluation of the effects of a seven-period day on students and teachers, especially on student achievement, is the purpose of this study. A three-part methodology includes two applications of the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM) to teachers; administration of the School Attitude Survey (SAS) to students and teachers; and a statistical analysis of students' test scores and grade point averages. The subjects were 853 students and 54 teachers in a suburban setting. The...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Achievement Gains, Achievement Rating, Class Organization, Curriculum Design,...
Since 1987, 12 California school districts and their teachers' unions have experimented with a new form of labor accord called an Educational Policy Trust Agreement. The project helps teachers, as represented by their unions, and school management to reach agreements on issues that are not included within the scope of traditional collective bargaining. Agreements cover topics such as teacher evaluation, staff development, site-based management, and curriculum development. The pilot trust...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Collective Bargaining, Elementary Secondary Education, Employer Employee...
This paper, by the President of the Detroit Board of Education, discusses aspects of the school choice issue, providing examples from recent developments in the Detroit (Michigan) public school system. The paper argues that freedom of choice in an educational context is a critical right of parents, and that schools of choice offer the best opportunity for all children to get a quality education. Research studies indicate higher levels of student achievement, teacher morale, and parent...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Change, Educational Quality, Elementary Secondary Education,...
Reforms in education have raised two critical fiscal policy issues: How is education reform to be financed? and Do the dollars spent on education reform make a difference? Schools can successfully meet these challenges by practicing sound fiscal management and placing an emphasis on cost-effectiveness and accountability. In the future, a rethinking of the federal role will be necessary particularly in the funding of student equity issues and technological innovation in learning. (9 references)...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Accountability, Budgeting, Cost Effectiveness, Curriculum...
The formation of hypotheses and generation of a theory to explain and predict the outcomes of educational reforms based on the concept of school reform cycles is the purpose of this paper. Two complementary hypotheses are proposed to explain the success or failure of educational reforms. The first hypothesis is based on an inverse relationship between restructuring and allocation of power and resources. It states that reforms requiring the most extensive restructuring in education, government,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Accountability, Educational History, Educational Theories, Elementary Secondary...
An analysis of deficiencies of recent curriculum reform efforts in Australia and recommendations for improvement are presented in this paper. Despite criticisms that have been levelled at the educational system, a conclusion is that educators are well prepared to meet the demands for restructuring. What is needed is not merely restructuring, but a new, holistic, "colligative," spirit based on faith, love, and hope to counteract the present pessimistic, fragmented, and reductionistic...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adoption (Ideas), Buddhism, Community Cooperation, Conservation (Environment),...
More than 20 states have adopted some form of regulation-relief legislation for their public schools. Two major issues confront the movement to deregulate the schools. The first is that there have been surprisingly few takers of regulation waivers; and second, whether, even if current deregulation efforts are successful, the end result is really the sought-after improved educational outcome. It appears that a major stumbling block to the practical implementation of state-level deregulation...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Accountability, Educational Improvement, Elementary Secondary Education, Public...
The University Council for Educational Administration's (UCEA) response to the National Policy Board's agenda is reviewed in this address. Recommendations for action include: reassessment of the organizational mission; initiation of assertive interaction with critics; and collaboration among all professional groups. Examples of the UCEA's actions fulfilling each recommendation are presented. (21 references) (LMI)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Board of Education Policy, Educational Administration, Educational Principles,...
Based on the premise that deficiencies in student learning are inherent byproducts of the traditional school structure, this study compares the effects of an experimental curriculum program on student learning with its traditional structural counterpart. The traditional school structure is characterized by a heavy teacher workload, segmented student schedules, and limited individual teacher-student interaction. The Renaissance Program (RenPro) at Masconomet High decreased the student course...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Curriculum Design, Curriculum Development, Curriculum Evaluation, Experimental...
Annotations of ERIC literature on the role of business in the schools are presented in this document. The following 10 items are reviewed: "What Reform Talk Does: Creating New Inequalities in Education," by Michael W. Apple; "Guidelines for Business Involvement in the Schools," by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development; "Investing in People: A Strategy to Address America's Workforce Crisis," by the Commission on Workforce Quality and Labor...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Business Responsibility, Cooperative Education, Corporate Support, Elementary...
The application of a social theory perspective to an analysis of the concept of restructuring is the purpose of this report. Restructuring is a conjunctive concept that involves changes in a school district's pattern of rules, roles, relationships, and results. A systemic viewpoint examines the reciprocal interactions between structure and process that influence program effectiveness. Examples are presented to illustrate how different goals require different patterns of rules, roles, and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary Secondary Education, Interaction, Intergroup Relations, Role Theory,...
An analysis of the IBM/NEA Mastery in Learning (MIL) school renewal system, an electronic network that involves school faculties in collegial interaction with researchers and other educators in school reform, is the purpose of this paper. Developed by IBM (International Business Machines) and NEA (National Education Association), the MIL is a site-based, faculty-led reform in which 26 schools participate nationwide. Although local faculties design their own agendas, the MIL project design...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College School Cooperation, Communications, Computers, Databases, Decision Making,...
An analysis of the relationship between teachers' work culture and the school's social context is the purpose of this study, with a focus on teachers' shared psychological work orientations as components of a teacher culture. The methodology relates high school teachers' attitudes in two high schools to different social contexts with the cultural attributes that affect teacher participation in schoolwide decision making. School social context is defined by educators' and students' perceptions...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Cultural Influences, Educational Environment, High Schools, Institutional...
An analysis of the gap between educational productivity and technological advancement concludes that American education's dismal productivity level is partly due to the lack of investment in research and development. Successful school restructuring must include the following innovations: site-based management; public school choice; competitive markets; realistic accounting; meaningful incentive programs; and valid evaluation processes. An initiative to close the gap is proposed, in which U.S....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Accountability, Budgets, Bureaucracy, Educational Economics, Educational Finance,...
Educational change depends on the development of total school system readiness. An analysis of the school evaluation process is the purpose of this report. Essential steps to determine school readiness for restructuring include the assessment, profiling, and integration of interrelated system components, which include focus and support factors. Recommendations for achieving system readiness include accurate assessment of organizational components and long-range systematic planning. (LMI)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Accountability, Educational Assessment, Educational...
Recent educational reform efforts have sought to restructure schools, changing the character of school culture and creating a need for a nontraditional approach to inservice teacher education. Inservice projects have been implemented which attempt to prepare practicing teachers for restructured schools and as participants in the restructuring process. This digest provides a brief overview of five emerging trends in inservice teacher education. Inservice programs are: (1) research based,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Career Ladders, Collegiality, Educational Change, Elementary Secondary Education,...
An overview of an international conference held on the campus of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) to take stock of the development and use of educational quality indicator systems at the local, state, national, and international levels is provided. Major implications and findings of the education summit held at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville), September 27-28, 1989, by President Bush and the nation's governors are discussed in the opening address by Emerson J....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Abstracts, Accountability, Achievement Tests, Conference Papers, Educational...
This report presents the conceptual framework for a public school choice plan for New York City and discusses why school choice represents the best hope for meaningful reform. Public school choice is defined as giving school professionals the freedom to design innovative and distinctive school programs; and giving parents the right to choose, in pursuit of those innovations, the public school for their child. Despite marginal improvement in student achievement and high school completion rates,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Change, Elementary Secondary Education, Equal Education, Parent...
U.S. industry and the U.S workplace are changing. More highly skilled jobs are replacing unskilled and semiskilled jobs, and more jobs require higher-order thinking skills. At the same time, the education system is failing to educate young people to fill those jobs in the future. Although a higher percentage of students graduate than ever before, the skills many of these students learn in school do not prepare them for higher-level thinking and problem solving. Added to the problem is that more...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Economic Development, Educational Improvement, Educational Needs, Elementary...
Statements and letters from administrators and policymakers and supplementary materials are included in this report of a congressional hearing on the status and future of American education. Four broad areas targeted by the President's educational agenda are as follows: (1) helping those most in need; (2) achieving and rewarding excellence and success; (3) increasing parent involvement and choice; and (4) strengthening accountability at all levels. Area of concern identified at the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Accountability, Career Development, Classroom Environment,...
The view that fundamental changes in the educational system are necessary for successful restructuring is reflected in this collection of papers. The first five papers set the context for restructuring design by presenting rationales, models, and definitions. The next three papers focus on educational design processes, and the following two papers provide specific descriptions of different educational systems. The final paper develops a new design for educational reform. The contents are as...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Cooperative Planning, Curriculum Design, Educational Change, Educational Improvement,...
The schools attended by young adolescents must be transformed into "communities for learning" that provide students with a climate fostering their intellectual development. Such communities have high expectations for students, challenge them with an integrated curriculum, offer meaningful relationships with adults, and maintain an environment where students feel safe, motivated, and engaged with their schoolwork. According to the U.S. Education Department's National Longitudinal Study...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adolescents, Educational Environment, Educational Improvement, Grade 8, Junior High...
This annotated bibliography offers a sampling of a wide variety of viewpoints on the topic of school choice. Fourteen references selected for annotation, ranging from a 3-page journal article to a 266-page book, are listed at the beginning of the bibliography. Among the viewpoints that different authors represent are the following: (1) unlimited or highly structured choice; (2) students choosing, as well as parents choosing; (3) transportation costs met by public funds or being the sole...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Annotated Bibliographies, Educational Policy, Elementary Secondary Education, Equal...
Annotations of ERIC literature on the learning environment are presented in this document. Materials were selected for inclusion from the ERIC catalogs Resources in Education (RIE) and Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE). The 10 publications are as follows: "School Is for Teachers: Enhancing the School Environment," by Buck Adams and Gerald D. Bailey; "The Copernican Plan: Restructuring the American High School," by Joseph M. Carroll; "Creating Effective...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, At Risk Persons, Disadvantaged Youth, Dropout Prevention,...
The findings of a pilot study of Pennsylvania's School Performance Incentive (SPI) program are presented in this report. School level incentive policies as elements of the entrepreneurial context of educational restructuring and an organizational model for an incentive-based merit system are also discussed. The study examines the effect of SPI on school outcome measures upon which monetary rewards were contingent and on school personnel behavior. Test performance data from 2,584 schools and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Achievement Rating, Competition, Decentralization, Elementary Secondary Education,...
The findings of a recent Economic Policy Institute report that asserts that U.S. schools are financially undernourished compared to other nations is critiqued in this paper. The argument is made that not only is there no systematic relationship between increased spending on education and academic performance, but also that increased spending is likely to cause economic decline. Spending more on obsolete, inefficient schools and colleges will waste resources and weaken the U.S. economy....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Comparative Analysis, Educational Finance, Educational Trends, Elementary Secondary...
Collaborative school cultures have been associated with achieving various school reform objectives for both teachers and students. One central dimension of school restructuring is the empowerment of teachers within a school culture that is both shared and technical. Little is known about how such cultures develop and whether or how school administrators can facilitate that process. This report describes results of a study examining administrator practices in 12 Ontario (Canada) schools that had...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Administrator Responsibility, Change Strategies, Cooperation, Educational...
The first phase of a monitoring project to evaluate the implementation of the Chicago Reform Act, with a focus on the process of securing school participation in the study, is described in this report. Twelve schools out of a random stratified sample of 16 schools agreed to participate in the study, which was to consist of interviews and classroom observation. The high degree of time and involvement required in the school recruiting stage was found to be consistent with the gradual nature of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Effective Schools Research, Elementary Secondary Education, Observation, Pilot...
The effective implementation of school redesign, based on a social systems approach, is discussed in this paper. A basic assumption is that the interdependence of system elements has implications for a complex change process. Seven barriers to redesign and five critical issues for successful redesign strategy are presented. Seven linear steps for successful implementation, with a focus on megachange, are also included. A recommendation is made for the recognition of human capital as the single...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Administrative Organization, Decision Making, Educational Change, Educational...
A systems design framework for the transformation of education is presented in this paper. A systems approach views education as a system of interdependent problems and the design process as one of four parts of organizational inquiry. A framework for educational design is presented, which is composed of three dimensions--focus for change, scope of inquiry, and patterns of interaction. A conclusion is that organizations must learn how to initiate and sustain a comprehensive system design...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Administration, Design, Educational Change, Educational Innovation, Educational...
Eleven separate addresses made by the Assistant Secretary of Education for Educational Research and Improvement during the period April-August 1990 comprise this document. Arranged chronologically, it includes two addresses before the American Educational Research Association in April and others as follows: (1) to Javits Grant recipients on May 16-17; (2) before the National Alliance for Business on May 22; (3) before U.S. Department of Energy Education Directors on May 23; (4) at the Seminar...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academically Gifted, Accountability, Alternative Teacher Certification, Cooperation,...
This paper describes the second year of the Success for All program, which tries to assure that each student in an inner-city school succeeds in acquiring basic skills in the early grades. The program was first implemented in the 1987-88 school year in Abbottson Elementary School in Baltimore. First year results revealed substantially higher student performance in language and reading, and substantially reduced student retention and placement in special classes in comparison with a matched...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Economically Disadvantaged, Educational Resources, Elementary Education, Elementary...
Data from a national survey of principals in public schools with a 7th grade were used in this study of schools that serve disadvantaged, advantaged, and other populations. Differences in the schools' course-taking opportunities, organizational structures, extracurricular programs, remedial activities, instructional approaches, staffing needs, and use of responsive practices were studied. Effects of middle grades practices on course-taking opportunities were also examined in an effort to gain...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Advantaged, Comparative Analysis, Courses, Disadvantaged, Educational Practices,...
This collection of papers addresses three important aspects of professional practice schools: student learning, teacher development, and implementation issues related to collaboration among institutions and state policy environment. The first paper, "The Child as Meaning Maker: The Organizing Theme of Professional Practice Schools" (Ellen M. Pechman), focuses on the implications for classrooms and schools in what is known about how children learn and develop socially and emotionally....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Policy, Elementary Secondary Education, Excellence in Education,...
The Center for Excellence in Education at Northern Arizona University has learned a great deal from the past 5 years of research and evaluation of 15 pilot-test school districts, as they endeavor to restructure and make positive changes. The purpose of the reform movement is to provide adequate incentives for recruitment, retention, and motivation of high-quality professionals and to improve student learning. This extensive study has found an extreme diversity in the readiness and ability of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Change, Educational Finance, Educational Research, Elementary Secondary...
Michigan's response to the call for educational improvement is described. Included are a discussion of the historical background; a review of the state's response to reform demands; an explanation of pending and enacted proposals; a summary of reform activities across the country; and an analysis of the effectiveness of the reform efforts. A detailed description of pending school improvement legislation in Michigan is contained in the appendix (half of the document). Legislation covers such...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Accreditation (Institutions), Class Size, Educational Improvement, Educational...
The United States is in the midst of a school reform movement of unprecedented dimensions, and many educators have felt a need to focus not just on the process but on the purpose of the educational enterprise--the purpose which the reforms are intended to accomplish. A conference, attended by more than 1,100 educators and other interested people, discussed the mission of the schools and made recommendations on how best to realize that mission. Following the keynote address by Robert R. Spillane...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Curriculum Development, Educational Improvement, Educational...
School administrators' uses of subjective understandings and common language to gain and maintain power and predictability in their environments are described. Micropolitical theory, with a focus on language, is utilized to understand administrators' knowledge of the assumptive worlds of their subculture, and how these assumptive worlds constrain and limit conflict. Interviews with 20 assistant principals and onsite observations of their schools identified four domains of site-level assumptive...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Administrator Attitudes, Administrator Effectiveness, Administrator Role, Assistant...
