This testimony on charter schools is based on a report prepared at the request of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and related agencies by the General Accounting Office. Remarks focus on charter schools' instructional innovations, autonomy, accountability systems, and the challenges they pose for federal programs.…

This case study reports on a program that permits waivers of individual rules in order to encourage local innovation. Enacted in 1989, Washington State's Schools for the 21st Century program allows participating schools and districts to request waivers from state rules believed to impede restructuring efforts. The pilot project also supplies…

Recent reform documents have identified practitioners' lack of awareness and implementation of exemplary, innovative practices, and major national associations have noted the ongoing gap between research and practice. The literature supports collaborative action research and teacher researchers as methods to expand the base of educational research…

Findings of a 1992 survey that examined Oregon educators' perceptions of the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century, a law designed to bring about fundamental change and radical restructuring in public education, are presented in this journal article. Data were derived from questionnaires that were mailed to 2,140 teachers and 120…

The idea of organizing secondary schools into smaller units has gained support in the last decade. This guidebook is designed to support efforts to develop an effective small-unit plan for high schools. The first two sections highlight the benefits of small-unit organizations and identify the institutional barriers to implementation. Proponents of…

A study was designed to systematically gather subjective opinions from superintendents, principals, and teachers regarding the efficacy of educational reforms instituted in Alberta, B.C., during the 1990s. Data were obtained through a questionnaire consisting of 10 statements with which respondents could either strongly agree, agree, have no…

This book recounts how a community of teachers, parents, and students took charge of a conventional school and created an unconventional one. It describes the challenges faced by the Bethlehem Lab School--from its inception in 1988 to the graduation of its first senior class. The school was conceived as a performance-based-assessment school, and…

This book examines the policies and practices that create educational inequality in the United States and what can be done to reduce their influence. The introduction identifies children who are disadvantaged by the U.S. educational system, and documents the results of society's failure to serve them properly. Part One, which contains four…

This book describes the evolution of New American Schools (NAS) and its strategy for reform during its first 6 years of operation. After a short introduction in chapter 1, chapter 2 outlines the potential contribution of school designs and design-based assistance to education reform, focusing on the nature of NAS designs, the character of…

The Texas Scholars Program uses business and community involvement to motivate middle- and lower-ranked high school students to take and complete a rigorous academic curriculum to prepare them for the labor market or postsecondary education. The paper examines variables such as staff development, community involvement, support from the central…

This report presents the research and development undertaken in the first year of a 3-year project to develop a Model Leadership Training Program for charter-school founders. The report provides detailed descriptions and analysis of charter schools' leadership needs and what is required to found and sustain a successful charter school. The text…

Charter schools are public schools that are established through state law and are often released from traditional regulations that apply to public schools in return for an accountability system that emphasizes student outcomes. This hearing focused on how Federal education funds are distributed to charter schools; the academic and administrative…

This book provides teachers and program administrators with information and guidelines to develop effective school programs for immigrant students with limited prior schooling. The limited information about these students is summarized, with in-depth information about the lives, backgrounds, aspirations, educational experiences, and needs of five…

Compiled from interviews with people involved in various innovative assessment projects in Alaska, this report records the effects on assessment practices of grants from the Alaska Department of Education to school districts and individual teachers during the 1991-92 academic year. After a brief introduction, the report describes assessment…

Responding to persistent complaints made by graduate students whose goals did not include college teaching, the department of communication at North Dakota State University (NDSU) in 1991 expanded its internship offerings into the graduate program in the form of the Applied Thesis Option. Justification provided by the department to the graduate…