Educational leadership practice is embedded and shaped in its own context. However, contemporary policy makers are keen to use research findings from multiple educational systems to produce overall, generic models of best leadership practice. Therefore, research needs to encompass analyses of the political, societal, cultural, and institutional…

Interest in setting high educational standards is at the forefront of many school reform programs in the United States. States' pursuit of high standards can be advanced through implementation of programs such as High Schools That Work ("HSTW"), which emphasizes high expectations and rigorous academics for all students, including Career…

The authors conducted a third-party study of the student achievement effects of Struggling Schools, a user-generated approach to Comprehensive School Reform (CSR). The design was a quasiexperimental, pre-post matched sample (N = 180) with school as unit of analysis, drawing on 3 years of achievement data from standardized external assessments.…

American-style comprehensive high school (CHS) systems were started in Japan and Taiwan in 1994 and 1996, respectively. Most CHSs in Taiwan were transformed from senior vocational schools, whereas others were changed from senior high schools or newly founded. To assist these schools in successfully restructuring or designing new programs, a…

Research results are collated and presented concerning the change in Finland from a binary system of education to a more unitary system, the "comprehensive school," involving a single primary school (grades one through nine) and a choice between vocational and senior secondary school (grades ten through twelve). The new system, being…

This report discusses the results of a five-year effort to develop a comprehensive planning process that would enable school districts to initiate and maintain a self-sustaining planning capability. In addition to examining the general principles and procedures of the comprehensive planning approach to school district planning, the author…

The research study uses available data from the Comprehensive Career Education Model (CCEM) to examine relationships between diffusion factors and the acceptance of the developed curriculum units. A brief overview of the project is provided with recommendations for designing linkages among curriculum development agencies. The data came primarily…

The study surveyed the perceptions of selected male public senior secondary students relative to the specialized and comprehensive types of public two year post-secondary schools in Minnesota. Their perceptions of both school related and non-school related factors were determined. Further, the relative importance of these two types of factors, as…

Attributes the relatively high dropout rate among Welsh secondary school students to the educational processes within the comprehensive schools. Advocates extensive research into the nature of Welsh education and problems stemming from historical, socioeconomic, and political factors. Encourages policy formation that reflects Welsh rather than…