The institutional features of the American high school reflect its role as the custodian of adolescents, who lack any status in society beyond that of student. These features conflict with the school's educative aim of adolescent self-development; curricular and organizational reforms are needed to correct this dichotomy. (SJL)

In this 1979 replication of a 1974 survey, 234 high school principals provided information on perceived influences on curriculum, groups involved in curricular decision making, and use of 20 curricular arrangements and offerings, such as departmentalization, independent study, competencies, moral education, and unified studies. Five-year trends…