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This brief discusses the outcomes of a study that examined the views of 32 secondary education teachers in four secondary schools on the inclusion of students with disabilities in their classrooms. Analyses of the interview data indicate that the general education teachers were committed to inclusion and that they did make instructional accommodations for students with disabilities. Many teachers, but not all, tried to maintain the curriculum and hold high expectations while providing these accommodations. Teachers at three of the schools emphasized teaching and learning of high intellectual quality and they believed this focus was appropriate for their students with disabilities. At two of these schools, classroom teachers felt they received important help from special education teachers and used students' Individualized Education Programs to guide instruction and assessment. Special education teachers were believed to be particularly helpful in team teaching situations within inclusive classrooms and in assisting with accommodations and modeling instructional strategies. At the fourth school, teachers had a favorable view of inclusion and found it helped their teaching in a general sense. Personalized Learning Plans helped teachers focus on relationships with students and their effective development; however, these teachers did not emphasize complex or intellectually demanding instruction. (Contains 16 references.) (CR)

One prominent approach to school improvement focuses on strengthening school accountability. This paper explains how three main issues keep the theory (which links school accountability to school performance) from working in practice. The issues involve: (1) implementation controversies dealing with standards, incentives, and constituencies; (2) insufficient efforts to build organizational capacity; and (3) failure to recognize the importance of internal school accountability. The study examined the nature and extent of accountability in 24 "restructuring" elementary, middle, and high schools in 16 states. The data indicate that strong accountability was rare; organizational capacity was not related to accountability; schools with strong external accountability tended to have low organizational capacity; and strong internal accountability tended to reinforce a school's organizational capacity. The findings suggest that external agencies trying to increase school accountability should pay more attention to stimulating the kind of internal accountability that is linked to organizational capacity. The data were derived from observation, interviews, surveys of teachers and students, and document review. Appendices contain methodological notes, 2 figures, and 2 tables. (Contains 17 endnotes and 57 references.) (LMI)

Shifting from traditional, hierarchical bureaucracies to participatory governance and decision making is a major theme in school restructuring. This paper focuses on the involvement of teachers in key aspects of school decision making. Specifically, the paper describes how changes in power relations supported teachers' focus on improving the intellectual quality of their own and students' work. The 24 schools that participated in the School Restructuring Study (conducted by the Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools) illustrated four types of power relations, only one of which appears to hold promise for the promotion of authentic pedagogy. The four types included consolidated, balkanized, laissez-faire, and shared decision making. Findings indicate that restructuring school decision making, in terms of either structures or power relations, does not necessarily improve the quality of pedagogy provided to students. Participatory decision making, when power was shared, could facilitate more authentic pedagogy and learning. Within a school culture that valued intellectual quality, shared power in decision making reinforced that priority and helped to support sustained programmatic efforts to achieve instructional goals more than the other three patterns. Principal and teacher leadership played a key role in facilitating the sharing of power and advancing the school's vision for high quality teaching and learning. The data show how cultural aspects of a school's power relations interact with formal structures of decision making. One figure is included. (Contains 6 endnotes and 22 references.) (LMI)

Leading educational reformers have recently contended that students in U.S. secondary schools rarely are challenged to use their minds in any meaningful way. Faced with the remarkable absence of classroom thoughtfulness in U.S. schools, educational reformers have suggested that major organizational changes are necessary to improve the emphasis on higher order thinking in schools. This paper elaborates on a previous research study in which the relationship between organizational features and the promotion of classroom thoughtfulness by studying social studies departments in 16 secondary schools were investigated. Four departments, in contrast to the other 12, made structural changes in school organization. The purpose of the study was to gain more detailed knowledge of how organizational features were associated with the departments' level of classroom thoughtfulness. Teachers, department heads, students, and principals were interviewed and five social studies classes at each school were observed a minimum of five times during two-week long visits. Innovative organizational structures are not associated with higher levels of classroom thoughtfulness. A focus upon organizational programs might be more fruitful to classroom thoughtfulness than restructuring efforts. An appendix that lists minimal criteria for classroom thoughtfulness, a table presenting statistical data, and a list of references are included. (DB)

This paper investigates the ways in which department chair and principal leadership influence the teaching secondary social studies classes. Based upon research in three sets of high schools, leadership efforts in the areas of curriculum program development, faculty collegiality, staff development, and school culture are explored. Instructional leadership at the department level that generates a common vision around a shared conceptualization of thinking, combined with curriculum development within a culture of collegiality and attention to teaching and pedagogic strategies, seemed to facilitate improved levels of classroom thoughtfulness in high school social studies classes. A 12-item list of references is included as well as tables of data. (Author)