The Generation of Multiunit School Instructional Organization Models for Secondary Schools. Theoretical Paper No. 38.

The purpose of this theoretical paper is to describe a set of models for the instructional organization of the multiunit secondary school. The school's instructional organization is viewed as a mechanism for structuring resources to influence learning outcomes. The multiunit elementary school (MUS-E) models served as the point of departure for extending individually guided education (IGE) to the secondary levels. The major variables that influenced the design of the IGE/multiunit secondary school (MUS-S) were characteristics of the individual learner, insights into human abilities and learning, and the structure of the learning environment. A "multiunit component crosswalk" was created to identify MUS-E components (such as nongrading, staff hierarchies, and continuous progress) that could be applied to middle and senior high school levels. A modular instructional organization was generated for the IGE/MUS-S. The basic components were the "Individually Guided Inter-Disciplinary" Module, which includes all required experiences, and the "Enrichment" Module, which includes all elective experiences. Each module was comprised of a learner unit, instructional unit, curriculum unit, and decision unit. Variations of IGE/MUS-S models were developed for junior high, middle, and senior high schools of various sizes. (Author/DN)