The widening mismatch between the skills of the work force and the skill demands of the workplace underlie the need for school restructuring. Within the categories of school-level, school-district, and state-level issues, a discussion about and suggestions for restructuring U.S. education in order to improve its productivity and student acquisition of higher order thinking skills comprise the crux of this document. Educational goals, the structure of knowledge, instructional tasks and activities, instructional group size and composition, and instructional time are reviewed and analyzed as school-level issues. School district role, central office functions, the balance between centralized control and local autonomy, present and alternative governance structures, personnel policies and practices, and collective bargaining are analyzed within the rubric of school district issues. A discussion of state-level issues suggests setting educational goals, stimulating local innovation, and rethinking state accountability systems. In response to the educational challenges that schools face, fundamental changes in the way local districts and states operate will determine the way schools are structured, instruction is provided, and staff roles and responsibilities are defined. (24 references) (JAM)

This paper examines the role of technology in restructuring education by analyzing how it influences seven important relationships in the educative process: (1) teacher-student relationships; (2) student-content relationships; (3) teacher-content relationships; (4) student-context relationships; (5) teacher-context relationships; (6) content-context relationships; and (7) educational system-environment relationships. After a brief historical overview of the uses of technology in education, the paper discusses the nature of systems in education and examines the process of restructuring through systems change in the seven pairs of relationships as they exist today and as they might change in a restructured educational system. How educational technology can empower teachers and students is then discussed with emphasis on how electronic technology is transforming the way information is communicated and processed. A brief discussion of the role of the teacher in evaluating the worth of content--i.e., selecting the best of culture for sharing with students--concludes the report. (ALF)

Make good decisions about your own restructuring effort by seeing what has and what hasn't worked in other schools.

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.

American education is undergoing rapid change. Concern over poor student performance, the ability and motivation of teachers, and the inefficiency of school bureaucracy have led to numerous recommendations for changing the structure of American education. These vary from small changes in the current structure to wholesale privatization of public schools. The contributions in this book discuss a wide range of proposals, including greater school choice, charter schools, promoting contact with the business community, public-private partnerships, and more. Several chapters assess the current research on choice and restructuring. Overall the consensus is that proposed reforms have a good chance of yielding significant benefits.

Education reform has become part of a political imperative in a number of developed countries, including the USA, Japan and the UK. This book questions why this reconstruction occurred at the same time in different places and asks, what common themes are emerging in the restructuring movement?

This is an examination of restructuring in the context of the curriculum and teaching and learning. International case studies are provided from the USA, Hong Kong, Australia and the UK.