Structured schools, free schools, graded schools, ungraded schools, no schools at all—the conflicts over public education in America rage on, for contemporary schools have not lived up to our expectations. The essence of the criticism reflected in the essays in this volume is that America's dual educational goals—free inquiry and social mobility-are not being met. Instead of producing enlightened citizens capable of high social and economic mobility, our schools have become warehouses of children stored as commodities, docile and immobile.

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)

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.

This book documents a real-life attempt to put into practice the most promising school-improvement theories of the past decade.