One avenue being explored as a way to cut costs while maintaining the quality of programs and services is year-round education (YRE). In most cases, the known benefits and drawbacks of an existing component of traditional scheduling must be weighed against the theoretical advantages and disadvantages of YRE. The five articles reviewed in this…

Multiage education is the placement of children of varying ages, grades, and ability levels in the same classroom with the aim of improving learning for all of them. Teaching a multiage class requires very different knowledge and skills than teaching traditional single-grade classes. Interest in multiage education has grown in recent years, and…

Now that there are enough school-restructuring experiments to evaluate, one can examine what has been learned about transforming the restructuring concept into reality. Although principals recognize that restructuring will reshape their leadership role, studies show these administrators are pivotal to school-improvement efforts. Fred Newmann…

Family involvement in schools will work only when perceived as an enlarged concept focusing on all children, including those from at-risk families. Each publication reviewed here is specifically concerned with family involvement strategies concerned with all children or targeted at primarily high risk students. Susan McAllister Swap looks at three…

Included in this summary analysis of three journal articles and two documents on teacher evaluation are reports that touch on difficulties facing school officials in developing a teacher evaluation system and suggestions for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of an evaluation system. The first article, by Susan S. Stodolsky, challenges…

This issue reviews publications that provide a starting point for principals looking for a way through the accountability maze. Each publication views accountability differently, but collectively these readings argue that even in an era of state-mandated assessment, principals can pursue proactive strategies that serve students' needs. James A.…

This issue reviews grade span, or grade configuration. Catherine Paglin and Jennifer Fager's "Grade Configuration: Who Goes Where?" provides an overview of issues and concerns related to grade spans and supplies profiles of eight Northwest schools with varying grade spans. David F. Wihry, Theodore Coladarci, and Curtis Meadow's…

Schools are expected not only to conserve society's values and standards, but to be dynamic organizations with built-in mechanisms for incorporating rapid, far-reaching change. Although change is unlikely unless at least one highly motivated individual assumes the role of initial change agent, lasting change requires more than the efforts of a…

This document summarizes five studies that offer insight into the nature of higher-order thinking skills and the most effective methods for teaching them to students. The reviews outline the conclusions, definitions, recommendations, specific methods of teaching, instructional strategies, and programs detailed in the documents themselves.…

This publication reviews works on educational reform that represent attempts to do more than merely respond in knee-jerk fashion to political pressure for reform. Bruce Joyce and Emily Calhoun, in "Learning Experiences in School Renewal: An Exploration of Five Successful Programs" (Eugene, Oregon: ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational…

Results of research and evaluation efforts are just beginning to shed some light on how to create and maintain high-quality after-school programs. This research roundup reviews five documents that touch upon a range of issues related to the developing field of after-school programming. "Getting School-Based After-School Programming Off the Ground"…

This research summary reviews six publications that explore the need for integrated school-based community services and describe ways in which challenges can be overcome to create effective full-time schools. The publications include the following: (1) "Full-Service Schools: A Revolution in Health and Social Services for Children, Youth, and…