The author never worked "with" a boss before working with Ted at Brown University. She had always known of Ted--he was Dean at Harvard Graduate School of Education when she was a student there, just beginning her teaching career. Ted arrived at Brown University in September 1984. She was working at Brown in President Howard Swearer's…

Comprehensive school improvement is based on reorganizing and revitalizing the entire school rather than focusing on specific student populations or programs. An overview of 17 schoolwide reform programs is provided in this book. The purpose of the text is to give education leaders basic information about some of the best-known externally…

This book is a collection of 30 "Schools in the Middle" newsletters that were published from 1981-90. These articles, which focus on the melding of theory and practice, reflect exemplary middle-level practices, issues, and concerns about early adolescents during the past decade. Among the articles contained in Part 1, titled "Successful Middle…

Factors such as the need for flexible, responsive schools prompted the 1980s national dialogue about possible societal and economic changes in the role of the educational system. Those same factors set the national and Minnesota agenda for youth in the 1990s and on into the 21st Century. Changes that occur in the educational systems should achieve…

Guidelines for transforming and improving the nation's public schools are presented in this book, with a focus on the regional laboratory's program for educational change. The program is organized around "designing schools for enhanced learning" and is based on three principles--a focus on learning, a systemic approach to change, and…

This paper describes the initial efforts of the New American Schools Development Corporation (NASDC), a private, nonprofit corporation created as part of the American 2000 initiative to fund the development of new designs for American schools. NASDC is currently funding nine teams to develop and demonstrate designs for high-performing schools.…

Outcomes of a school improvement program begun in 1988 at Roosevelt Middle School in Eugene, Oregon, are described in this paper. The first part provides a background of the school's innovative process and program development. The second part outlines the school's major components of restructuring--a common vision and core beliefs, principles of…

This expanded issue explores well-known comprehensive school reform models and provides tools and resources to assist school leaders in choosing reform programs. Case studies provide information about three well-known models: the Coalition of Essential Schools, the Paideia Program, and the Success for All Program. These reforms are discussed in…

This book presents a compilation of papers generated by the research unit of the Comer School Development Program. The program operates from the basic theme that if school staff understand child development and how to organize and manage their school building as a social system, a climate that facilitates learning among the greatest number of…

This case study reports the feasibility of the Partnership Schools Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) model for school improvement in a Title I elementary school. Interviews were conducted and documents were collected for 3 years to study whether and how the school implemented key policy attributes--specificity, consistency, authority, power, and…

This paper explores some of the many reasons to restructure, suggests the participants in restructuring, responds to Goodlad's (1990) postulates and essentials of restructuring and describes a model for restructuring between a teacher preparation program and P-12 schools. Reasons for restructuring can be classified into three categories: changes…

The Providence Blueprint for Education study (PROBE) gathered as much information as possible about the status of Providence (Rhode Island) schools, collecting data from parents, teachers, the government, school administrators, and the public to paint a broad picture of the schools and areas for improvement. Information was collected from the…

The issue of central interest in this book is not how many new policies have been approved or how many restructuring efforts are being undertaken, but rather what has actually changed in practice--if anything--as a result of change efforts. The book is divided into three main parts. Part 1, "Understanding Educational Change," provides an overview…

Today’s schools are complex systems with complex problems. Addressing those problems often requires significant change efforts. However, many school administrators don’t know how to select a focus for these efforts or how to lead staff through such changes--and even if they did, the job is too large for one person. One solution to this dilemma is…

The goal of this guide is to provide information, support and practical tools that may help educators design, implement, and evaluate their school's standards-based education program. In order to work, a comprehensive, standards-based educational program must, by definition, be the organizing structure upon which the school program operates.…