The Twin Engines of School Reform for the 1990s: The School Sites and National Coalitions

Abstract

The school sites and national coalitions are projected as major players in this decade's restructuring efforts to help transform our society from a goods to a knowledge-work economy. As school sites are provided both autonomy and accountability for school improvement and as the need for student self-directed learning becomes more imperative, principal-teacher and teacher-student relationships will be transformed. Due to political, economic, and school-related pressures, principals and teachers will become collegial problem-solvers as school sites function largely as self-administrated units. As information technology makes knowledge more accessible and less controllable through textbooks, teachers and students will form classroom learning communities. The United States is entering a nationalizing of education era as national coalitions become major players on the school reform stage. These coalitions will provide student assessment systems and new workplace designs for schooling. Within this national framework, school-site personnel will craft personalized learning environments. After 100 years of standard design, schools will become different. Implications are then made for principal training and for the principal associations.