In 1991, the New American Schools (NAS) Development Corporation was founded by a group of business and foundation leaders interested in investing in innovative designs for school transformation. This book describes the first 3 years of development and evaluation of 9 NAS whole-school restructuring designs. The designs were very diverse, as were their implementation sites, which included many small schools, some very large urban schools, and schools serving American Indian students. Following an introduction, "Bold Plans for School Restructuring: Nine Designs from New American Schools" (Sam Stringfield, Steven Ross, Lana Smith), the chapters are: (1) "Sharing the Vision: Creating New American Schools" (David T. Kearns, John L. Anderson); (2) "Audrey Cohen College System of Education: Purpose-Centered Education" (Audrey Cohen, Janith Jordan); (3) "ATLAS Communities: Authentic Teaching, Learning, and Assessment for All Students" (Cynthia J. Orrell); (4) "The Co-NECT Design for School Change" (Bruce Goldberg, John Richards); (5) "The Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound Design" (Meg Campbell, Emily Cousins, Greg Farrell, Mieko Kamii, Diana Lam, Leah Rugen, Denis Udall); (6) "The Modern Red Schoolhouse" (Rob Heady, Sally Kilgore); (7) "Reform at All Levels: National Alliance for Restructuring Education" (Robert Rothman); (8) "Roots and Wings: Universal Excellence in Elementary Education" (Robert E. Slavin, Nancy A. Madden, Barbara A. Wasik); (9) "Community Learning Centers" (Wayne B. Jennings); (10) "Los Angeles Learning Centers: An Initiative of Los Angeles Unified School District, United Teachers Los Angeles, and Los Angeles Educational Partnership" (Judy Johnson, John McDonald); and (11) "Lessons Learned: RAND's Formative Assessment of NAS's Phase 2 Demonstration Effort" (Susan Bodilly). (Contains contact information for New American Schools and Design Teams, along with reference notes in some chapters and an index.) (SV) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software.

Two powerful forces are driving American's demands for better schools -- one longstanding force is idealistic and the other is "new" and economic. The current group of young Americans is in danger of being the first full generation to consistently make less money and enjoy fewer worldly rewards than their parents. The intersection of idealistic and pragmatic forces has produced an era of calls for reform in U.S. education that is unparalleled -- calls that have resulted in the creation of the New American Schools Development Corporation (NASDC). The chapters in this book highlight the path traveled by NASDC -- a private, non-profit corporation charged with creating new, "break the mold" school designs for the 21st century -- and describes the first three years' accomplishments of nine NASDC development teams.

In 11 chapters, this book objectively looks at school restructuring on the basis of prominent reports on education; materials submitted by local schools and school systems; results from the AASA (American Association of School Administrators) survey; and interviews with local school leaders, prominent reformers, as well as several state and national organization representatives. Chapter 1 defines "restructuring." Chapter 2 examines restructuring within the context of current educational reform literature. Chapter 3 furnishes the philosophical bases of restructuring. Chapter 4 articulates teachers' views toward restructuring. Chapter 5 discusses the role of the business community in the effort to restructure U.S. public education. Chapter 6 describes the role of university involvement in school restructuring. State policies regarding major educational reforms--the subject of Chapter 7--have experienced a restructuring of their own, as they have evolved from proscriptive measures to those that enable school-site change. A discussion of the complexities and impact of school restructuring on school districts is the focus of chapter 8. Chapter 9 centers on the decisionmaking process in the restructuring effort. Chapters 10 and 11 discuss coping with change once restructuring takes place; suggest that the changed work environment requires new ways and means for leaders, supervisors, teaching staff, and students to perform effectively in new surroundings; and offer change strategies to assist school personnel to adapt to restructuring efforts. (JAM)