University of Oregon Books

The book is valuable and understandable. I am doing research in preparation to a move to the west coast of Oregon. Professor Komar takes a complicated issue and makes it understandable for a lay person. He is clear about what level of evidence exists for various subjects and is clear when expressing his opinion. The book very much answered just about all the questions I had.

This book is fantastic. The depth of detail and fantastic photos are excellent. Highly recommend for anyone with an interest in this area.

Excellent reference book for anyone who grows or plans to grow native plants. Will likely go out of print. Highly recommended for the native plant lover or nursery grower. Unusual book.

Sam MCKinney's books are what inspired me to build my power sharpie (see my other reviews). I'm 70, and I figured if he can do it so can I. So I can't wait to get my boat done and follow his Colimbia River tracks. He was a dedicated, motivated, independant, off the wall, adventurous Waterman that dedicated his life to the water and helping youth learn outdoor skills. His writings are simple, homey, and inspiring. Get them all.

Terry Lesh

This book is an extremely well constructed, balanced perspective about the problems with the Lower Snake River dams. The writing is clear and consise, which is crucial when explaining such a complex issue. The author does not use emotional arguments to outrage the reader. Rather, he presents the facts that surround the issue and uses those to draw a well thought out conclusion. We have much to gain by preserving salmon in the Northwest.

A tremendous amount has been written about school restructuring during the past half-dozen years. Writers and researchers have investigated, discussed, and debated the need and rationale for change in public education, the various strategies being attempted, their relative effectiveness, and the difficulty of bringing about change in public schools.

This wealth of information has not been easily available to practitioners. It is widely dispersed in journals, papers, and unpublished, hard-to-find documents. When school people begin to consider restructuring, it is not easy for them to assemble the resources that might aid their discussions and decisions.

This book is designed to help address this need, at least in part. It is an attempt to assemble many of the salient works on school restructuring that have appeared in print since discussions on the topic began in earnest in the mid-1980s. But this book goes beyond simply summarizing the writing in this area. Its goal is to provide a conceptual framework within which restructuring activities and processes can be considered; to provoke thinking, discussion, and questions regarding restructuring; and to enable readers to go beyond this text to many other sources that will deepen their understanding of ideas presented here.

The book draws from more than 600 sources across a wide spectrum of perspectives and beliefs regarding restructuring. It incorporates and builds upon several of my earlier works on this topic, along with information I gleaned from discussions and interviews with practitioners. Additional insights have come from my role as a school restructuring consultant, as a site facilitator for nine schools participating in a U.S. Department of Education grant designed to enable schools to take the "next step" in restructuring, and more recently as director of a project that works with 30 high schools to develop proficiency-based college admission standards for Oregon's public colleges and universities.

This book provides a picture of many of the trends and issues in school restructuring and attempts to place these issues into a context that helps explain where schools have come from and where they might be going. The book is designed to serve as a tool to help faculties develop their vision of school restructuring and their strategies for pursuing the process of restructuring. It might also be used profitably as a resource for principals, administrators, and boards of education who are trying to understand in greater detail this concept and its implications.

My goal in writing this book is to help educators, community members, and policy-makers understand more clearly why many educators are trying to restructure education, what people may mean when they talk about restructuring, what a few select schools are doing, and how the process of attempting fundamental change in education is being played out.

I hope that this book will enable the reader to have a more informed opinion on school restructuring, and to be more aware of the causes, issues, techniques, and strategies that are associated with this movement.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 15 CHAPTER 2. The Whys of Educational Restructuring 26 CHAPTER 3. Creating New Habits of Heart and Mind 43

Part 2 CHANGING ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 55 introduction to part 2 56 CHAPTER 4. Federal and State Governments 58 CHAPTER 5. School Districts 68 CHAPTER 6. School Sites 79 CHAPTER 7. Parents And The Community 89

Part 3 DIMENSIONS OF RESTRUCTURING 101 INTRODUCTION TO PART 3 102 CHAPTER 8. Preview of the Twelve Dimensions 104 CHAPTER 9. Learner Outcomes 113 CHAPTER 10. Curriculum 125 CHAPTER 11. Instruction 142 CHAPTER 12. Assessment 151 CHAPTER 13. Learning Environment 165 CHAPTER 14. Technology 188 CHAPTER 15. School-Community Relations 201 CHAPTER 16. Time 217 CHAPTER 17. Governance 227 CHAPTER 18. Teacher Leadership 245 CHAPTER 19. Personnel 257 CHAPTER 20. Working Relationships 265

Part 4 PROCESS OF RESTRUCTURING CHAPTER 21. Discontinuous Restructuring 281 CHAPTER 22. The Difficulty of Change in Education 306 CHAPTER 23. Culture, Leadership, and Readiness 321 CHAPTER 24. The Role Of Vision And Some Representative Visions 345 CHAPTER 25. Some Tools For Taking The Next Steps Toward Restructuring 361 CHAPTER 26. Emerging Visions Of School Restructuring 384 bibliography 400

While reading this book one can easily see why Overton Johnson and William Winter's personal narratives of the 1843 Great Migration to the Pacific is heavily cited in Oregon Trail literature. With wonderful descriptions of day to day activities, adventures and people experienced along the trail, there are also superb first-hand accounts of climate, landforms, agricultural and economical possibilities in Oregon and California. The chapter "Instructions to Emigrants" acted as a guide for future overlanders by explaining provisions, modes of transportation, clothing, firearms, character of Indians, etc., including a general estimate of mileage between campsites with available (or not available) wood, grass and water. This is a very readable, enjoyable and historical record of early pioneers traversing the continent. Excellent!

This has got to be the most in-depth book on the creation of a Chinatown (or any neighborhood for that matter) in the United States. Anyone interested in community development, the Asian American experience, or Chinese immigration to the U.S. should read this book. Very good black and white photos, maps, and reproductions of old documents.

The riveting story of the 1939 NCAA Champions, the University of Oregon Ducks--a basketball team that "comes along once in a lifetime."

"A must-read for any college basketball fan. It's the story of the most famous group of 'Tall Firs' to ever come out of the Pacific Northwest. The boys finally get their due in this great book by Joe Blakely." --Gary Henley, Daily Astorian

Have you ever wondered what those government sponsered scientific documents mean? Gail has read many and synthesized some so that a reader can understand what they say. Have you ever wondered about practices like "Structure Based Management" or "Managed Growth" and why anyone would be interested them? Or what they mean to you, a person who cares about forest practices. The author of this book has a heart that loves hiking in rich forest and a soul that came out of a logging family in the heart of logging country, Coos Bay, Oregon. Do you want to know what foresters, government experts, ecologists, scientists, and planners are planning? The work they are attempting in the Tillamook will be replicated into other areas if successful.