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The author, who is also the founding principal, gives a brief history of Central Park East, which is located in East Harlem in New York City's District 4. She and others were given an opportunity in 1974 to organize a school based on more progressivist ideas. Central Park East and the network of four schools that grew out of it focus on creating a democratic community, giving teachers greater autonomy in the running of a school, giving parents a voice in what happens to their children in schools, and promoting a family orientation. In 1985, these ideas were extended to a high school setting--Central Park East Secondary School. Meier and others are learning how to mesh an already successful "formula" with such high school issues as the New York State Regents Examination, course requirements, college pressures, and adolescents' needs.
This report documents some of the changes taking place in states that are restructuring in order to improve learning for all students. State and district initiatives are examined in four areas: (1) school governance; (2) the nature and organization of curriculum and instruction; (3) new professional roles for educators; and (4) accountability. The final section provides descriptions of some nationwide projects to restructure schools such as the Coalition of Essential Schools, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and the National Network for Educational Renewal.
This report presents case studies of successful school improvement in 12 districts across the country. It shows how Effective Schools reform can be adapted to various types of school contexts. The practitioners involved each wrote their case study, describing the process of implementation in their local settings. Lezotte and Taylor then draw some common lessons from all of the cases.
This article favors the creation of personalized, caring school environments as a means to encourage student commitment and engagement in learning. It reports findings from a study of three schools with such environments--an affluent, independent high school, an inner-city performing arts magnet school, and an electronics academy (vocational high school). Components fostering and sustaining personalization are discussed: student and teacher choice to be at the school, relatively small scale, school-level communication, collective problem solving, broader roles and responsibilities for teachers, teacher flexibility in instructional style, strategies that support and revitalize teachers. The authors conclude that personalization is a matter of conscious organizational design rather than of individual teachers' values and practices.
This monograph is a pioneering study of the processes at work in effective inner-city schools. By systematically analyzing student achievement in reading and examining other features of third-grade classrooms in the sample, Weber posited eight characteristics that distinguished these schools from less successful schools (both sets served inner-city populations). These characteristics included additional reading personnel, use of phonics, and individualization, among others. He also determined factors that were not associated with high reading achievement: small class size, achievement grouping, and physical facilities.
The study lacked specific observations of ineffective schools, including one of the sample schools whose effectiveness had deteriorated over time. However, it stimulated much further research by leading the way in analyzing school process measures.
[Guidelines for School Level Reform]