Cuban says schools reflect our society's fascination with fads, which increases their vulnerability to pressures from different constituencies. The most long-lasting innovations have avid supporters and equitable intent. Kindergarten and preschool education are prime examples. Policymakers' efforts to change classroom teaching practice usually…

The 1998 Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program provides $120 million for Title I schools and an additional $25 million for all public schools. Almost 3,000 schools are receiving $50,000 each to implement schoolwide models listed and explained in this article. Challenges and funding tips are discussed. (Contains 13 references.) (MLH)

As the United States grows more ethnically diverse, traditional school-integration tools are becoming less potent. Restoration of Horace Mann's common school represents the single best way to promote equal educational opportunity. Controlled public-school choice (via specialty schools) is the best way to achieve socioeconomic integration.…

Established in 1973, a progressive Charlotte, North Carolina, elementary school has been subjected to trends and pressures (particularly the back-to-basics and direct- instruction movements) that threatened its integrity and survival. Irwin Avenue must cover citywide academic objectives, but organizes its curriculum around themes and active,…

An ethnically diverse elementary school committed to coteaching, narrative assessments, and a bias-free ambience performed poorly on 1996 statewide standardized assessments. Initially stymied by a new depersonalized district report card, teachers developed strategic compromises that accommodated the superintendent's bureaucratic directives and…

Compares a 1970s-era Canadian high school's failure to sustain its innovative character with challenges faced by a similar, recently founded high school. Both schools experienced problems with leadership succession, staff recruitment and retention, expanding enrollments, district and policy context, and community support. Recommendations are…

Sustaining reform requires district leaders to develop a supportive infrastructure, nurture professional communities, reduce turnover, and use facilitators to build capacity. Bringing educators up to speed means providing abundant staff development, balancing pressure with support, providing adult learning time, and reducing fragmentation and…

Instead of inviting public engagement, the current educational system reinforces a hierarchical, bureaucratic pattern that gives neither students nor parents an official voice. Today's parents are demanding, more market-oriented, and organizing on the Internet. Strategies for fully involving parents in improvements for the common good are…

When the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) was unveiled in 1991, schools faced a public supportive of change but unhappy with the tests' implications--measurement of school, not student performance. Teachers helped design a nationally normed test to complement MSPAP. The process involved listening, communication, and…

A rural Minnesota district with a declining regional population and little public support involved the community in developing a consensus for reforms and creating a common vision and action plan for each school. Innovations were adopted regarding curriculum, scheduling, technology use, and marketing approaches. (MLH)

A parent objected to a district's replacement of the gifted pull-out program with gifted-talented clusters in regular classrooms. Teachers would be trained to work with special-needs students, but not to differentiate curricula for advanced students. He agreed to advance his daughter a grade, but deplores reforms' transitional effects. (MLH)

In a 1998 study of effective British principals, school staffs agreed that successful heads were values-led, people- centered, achievement-oriented, inward/outward facing, and able to manage ongoing tensions and dilemmas: leadership/management, development/maintenance, autocracy/autonomy, personal time/professional tasks, personal…

The act of reflection provides an opportunity for amplifying the meaning of one's work through others' insights; applying meaning to new situations; committing to experimentation or innovation; and documenting learning and sharing knowledge. Students and teachers need time for metacognitive reflections, collaborative dialogues, and portfolio and…

Historical memory is part of an organization's culture and should not be forgotten. Stories acquire more power and persuasion each time an initiative is imposed without attention to how people think and feel about it. The Historygram process provides a collective forum for reviewing an organization's past. (MLH)

UCLA's laboratory school is experimenting with the teacher-leader role as a way to provide ongoing learning opportunities for teachers. Teacher leaders serve as in-house experts who provide information, modeling, and assistance to other teachers. Choosing appropriate leader roles and teachers with credible leadership skills helps. (MLH)