Promoting Change in Schools.

Today's school administrator is faced with societal changes that result in a reshaping of the culture of individual schools in every district of our nation.

Three specific societal changes are identified by Jon Wiley, an educational planner and consultant, in Promoting Change in Schools. He delineates these changes as the reality of multiculturalism, the dissolution of the American family, and the rapid growth of technology in our society.

Wiley maintains that because the nature of American society has fluctuated so rapidly in the past 50 years, many of the resultant changes in schools have been unplanned. Local school boards "flutter in the wind" as they attempt to develop policy and operational priorities. Administrators are often perplexed about where to assign limited resources to meet the needs of the students.

Wiley is optimistic, however, that positive change in schools is possible. He illustrates successful programs and projects from around the country that have gained control over the process of change.

The suggestions outlined by the author are decisive and pragmatic and demonstrate his familiarity with real-world educational dilemmas. Administrators, school boards, and parents will appreciate that fact.

(Promoting Change in Schools: Ground Level Practices That Worh, by Jon W. Wiley, Scholastic Inc., 730 Broadway, New York, N.Y 10003, 1993, 200 pp. with index, $24.95 hardcover)