This collection presents the best of 8 years of "Rethinking Schools," an education reform journal created in Milwaukee (Wisconsin) in 1986 by teachers vitally concerned with educational change. This volume contains 29 essays by classroom teachers, as well as pieces by such national reform figures as Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Herbert Kohl,…

There has been much recent debate in both educational and political circles about the utility of choice as a means of improving the educational system. This book argues that any discussion of choice must address choice in public schools. The book is organized into seven chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of choice in public education,…

In this document, the Research for Better Schools (RBS) task force developed an overview of restructuring issues to help RBS staff prepare for a June 1989 staff development program on school restructuring. Two major sections focus on the dimensions of restructuring--student learning and organizational relationships. Each section presents a short…

This book provides alternative answers to those questions about the American educational system that have been answered until now by an outmoded, conservative educational agenda. Following the introduction that describes the rationale for a postmodern deconstruction of educational narratives, 13 chapters present essays on the following questions:…

Leading educational reformers have recently contended that students in U.S. secondary schools rarely are challenged to use their minds in any meaningful way. Faced with the remarkable absence of classroom thoughtfulness in U.S. schools, educational reformers have suggested that major organizational changes are necessary to improve the emphasis on…

This study illustrates with specific designs how the city might meet two critical educational objectives in its first program of new school construction in many years. The study designs show how New York might build schools small enough to meet criteria for effective learning environments and how these small schools might be closely integrated…

This volume of proceedings of the Mid-South Educational Research Association's 23rd annual meeting contains abstracts of discussion sessions, display sessions, symposia, and training sessions. Over 320 abstracts and annotations are included, for sessions that cover the whole range of educational research. Assessment and measurement, educational…

This document found that the California school system has managed to improve its efficiency and performance over the last decade. However, the system is strained to capacity and will have a difficult time meeting upcoming challenges. It must be redesigned to shift the responsibility for improving student achievement to the local level and replace…

Based on visits to four Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) sites in the spring of 1990 and interviews with Apple ACOT staff, this paper represents the first round of a 3-year study for Apple Computer, Inc., about the role of ACOT in educational restructuring. An overview of the ACOT project is presented, and the evolution and structure of ACOT…

Some baseline information is offered in this study to help determine the ends to which the strategic planning processes are being put and the outcomes that are being pursued. A conceptual overview of planning models and the role of planners are presented. The complete study comprises a two-stage process of data collection. First, strategic plans…

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…

Popular demands for school restructuring are increasingly common. This book is designed for diverse audiences who are interested in school improvement. Chapter 1, "Restructuring: In Search of a Movement" (Joseph Murphy), provides a historical and conceptual framework of restructuring efforts. Chapter 2, "Feeling the Ripples, Riding…

The drive for systemic reform in education reflects a widespread hunger in all sectors of society to make sense of the whole, as is shown in the increasing recognition of people in organizations of the interrelatedness of the organizations' parts. However, many attempts at systemic reform are hampered by the lack of a common view of what an…

This paper describes a middle-level reform effort implemented at Redwood Middle School in Napa, California. The school has been identified as an exemplary middle school that effectively combines affective and cognitive experiences for its students. In this monograph, the principal describes how the school's teachers developed a culture that…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined the process of building staff commitment during the earliest phase of comprehensive school change, or "courtship" phase. Participant observation in a northwestern urban school district was conducted at three low-achieving elementary schools that implemented the accelerated schools model.…