Restructuring in the Classroom: Teaching, Learning, and School Organization [Hardcover]

Richard F. Elmore (Author), Penelope L. Peterson (Author), Sarah J. McCarthey (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 078790239X | ISBN-13: 978-0787902391 | Publication Date: March 15, 1996 | Edition: 1st

By melding policy analysis and up-close observation, the authors illuminate the really hard issues in improving instruction. This book will shape educational research and reform for many years to come.


?David Tyack, Vida Jacks Professor of Education and History, Stanford University

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A lucid, vivid, and persuasive account of the slippery relationship between school organization and classroom teaching. By melding policy analysis and up-close observation, the authors illuminate the really hard issues in improving instruction. This book will shape educational research and reform for many years to come." (David Tyack, Vida Jacks Professor of Education and History, Stanford University)

"A compelling demonstration that innovative organizational structures are often appropriated to enact teachers' prior conceptions of teaching. This confirms what our studies have found: that changes in school structure or even in teaching practice offer no guarantees for enhancing the intellectual quality of student learning." (Fred M. Newman, director, Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools, and professor of curriculum and instruction, University of Wisconsin, Madison)

From the Inside Flap

For the past decade, most efforts at educational reform have centered around the school restructuring movement--the idea that changing the way schools are organized will change how teachers teach and how students learn. Yet until recently there was very little research on the effects of school restructuring and how it actually affects what goes on inside the classroom. Restructuring in the Classroom goes into the classrooms of three elementary schools to take a detailed look at how teachers responded to changes in structure in their schools. The authors interviewed principals, teachers, parents, support staff, and district personnel to produce in-depth case studies of schools at various stages of restructuring, showing what the school had done to change its structure and how those changes had occurred. Selecting four teachers in each school for closer observation and discussion, the authors reveal how those teachers responded to the changes around them in their day-to-day practice in the classroom. They show, for example, how teaching practice is or is not affected by changes in the way students are grouped for learning, in the way teachers relate to groups of students and to each other, and in the way time is allocated to subject matter. The provocative portraits of schools and teachers in Restructuring in the Classroom will give anyone interested in school reform an in-depth picture of what the process of school restructuring looks like from within.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1st edition (March 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078790239X
• ISBN-13: 978-0787902391
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,040,426 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A 'chalk- face' view of restructuring schools, March 30, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Restructuring in the Classroom: Teaching, Learning, and School Organization (Hardcover)

"Restructuring in the Classroom" documents three schools' attempts to translate the `big picture' of structural reform into changed pedagogy. Pedagogic change really is the key to effective structural change. It is always legitimate to ask- "How will change X improve students' learning?" Most practitioners will attest, that there is often a dearth of information to support the linkage. The great thing about this book is that it reveals changes, and the process of change, in teacher practice. The book portrays teachers in a realistic way and readers will be able to relate to the issues, circumstances and pedagogy. The four conclusions that the respected authors draw should be inscribed in stone. One short example will be immediately recognised by educators as a universal truth- " .. the transformation of teaching practice is fundamentally a problem of enhancing individual knowledge and skill, not a problem of organizational structure..." This is an excellent book for personal, group, school and district level professional development because it gives us rare and yet realistic insights into how our colleagues teach. Neil MacNeill

4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The book is poorly written., February 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Restructuring in the Classroom: Teaching, Learning, and School Organization (Hardcover)

The title grasps your eye, however, the book is poorly written for with little concept on what it is to be a teacher in today's classroom. It appears to be written in an over-your-head academic style. The grand review by a previous reviewer must have been written by one of the authors. I'm sorry I wasted my money on this book. My advice is to spend your money on another book.