CRITERIA FOR SCHOOL RESTRUCTURING

To study the effects of restructuring, the Center searches for public schools with comprehensive restructuring according to the criteria listed below. The search began in 1990 and will continue through Spring 1993 to identify schools for possible study participation in the School Restructuring Study.

To suggest a possible research site, either complete and send the nomination form or contact: Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools, 1025 W. Johnson St., Room 659, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706. Telephone 608-263-7575. Please answer yes (Y), or no (N) to each item, and elaborate if you wish. Further information will be requested from schools that answer "yes" to 12 or more of the questions on the nomination form.

The criteria represent major departures from conventional practice, but the Center does not recommend that all schools adopt all criteria.

Student Experiences

  1. Is learning time more equally distributed among whole class instruction, small group work, and individual study, rather than dominated by whole class instruction?
  2. Do students spend most of their time in heterogeneous groups?
  3. Do learning and assessment tasks emphasize student production rather than reproduction of knowledge?
  4. To complete their work, do students usually speak and write in full sentences and continuous sequences rather than in few-word fragments?
  5. Do learning tasks aim for depth of understanding rather than broad exposure?
  6. Do learning tasks emphasize "multiple intelligences" and multiple cultures?
  7. Are academic disciplines integrated in the curriculum?
  8. Is time for school learning flexibly organized rather than in periods of standard length?
  9. Do students participate in community-based learning?
  10. Do students relate to adult mentors, either teachers or persons outside the school, in a long-term programmatic way?
  11. Is student work assisted by extensive use of computer technology?
  12. Do students serve as and have access to peer tutors?
  13. Do students have substantial influence in the planning, conduct and evaluation of their work?

Professional Life of Teachers

  1. Do teachers function in differentiated roles such as mentoring of novices, directing curriculum development, and supervision of peers?
  2. Do staff function in extended roles with students that involve advising and mentoring?
  3. Do staff help to design on-going, on-the-job staff development based on local needs assessment?
  4. Do staff participate in collegial planning, curriculum development and peer observation-reflection, with time scheduled for this during the school day?
  5. Do teachers teach in teams?
  6. Do teachers exercise control over curriculum and school policy?
  7. Are there specific organizational incentives for teachers to experiment and to develop new programs and curriculum that respond more effectively to student diversity?
  8. Do teachers work with students in flexible time periods?
  9. Do teachers work with students as much in small groups and individual study as in whole class instruction?
  10. Do teachers work closely with parents and human service professionals to meet student needs?
  11. Do teachers receive financial rewards based on student outcomes or evaluation of teaching performance?

Leadership, Management and Governance

  1. Does the school exercise control over budget, staffing and curriculum?
  2. Has the school been divided into schools within schools, divisions or houses?
  3. Is the school run by a council in which teachers and/or parents have control over budget, staffing and curriculum?
  4. Does the school receive financial rewards based on student outcomes?
  5. Does the school make program decisions based on systematic analysis of student performance data disaggregated by student subgroups (e.g. race, gender, socioeconomic status)?
  6. Does the district provide special incentives for the principal to participate in restructuring?
  7. Do students enroll in the school by choice rather than residential assignment?

Coordination of Community Services

  1. Does the school have a systematic program for parent involvement in the academic life of students that goes beyond the normal activities of PTO, parents' night, and attendance at extracurricular events?
  2. Does the school have formal mechanisms for coordinating with community agencies offering services dealing with child care, drug and alcohol abuse, family disruption, homelessness, sexual abuse, teen pregnancy, crime and delinquency, economic welfare assistance and parental employment and training?
  3. Does the school participate in an external mentoring program, such as "I Have a Dream," which follows students for several years?
  4. Does the school have formal arrangements with local employers to place students in career-ladder jobs during the school year, summers and following high school graduation?
  5. Does the school have formal arrangements with institutions of higher education to assist students to continue their schooling?
  6. Does the school have formal arrangements with institutions of higher education to assist with staff development and curriculum design?
  7. Does the school offer adult education programs and recreational opportunities for the community at large?