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Teachers from charter and traditional schools in Colorado were queried about their perceptions of their level of empowerment, school climate, and working conditions. Using a cluster sampling design, approximately 100 teachers from 16 charter schools and 100 teachers from seven traditional schools were surveyed by combining several well-established instruments to measure empowerment, school climate, and working conditions. Factor analyses yielded three composite variables each for the three constructs. One-way analyses of variance were used to explore these teachers' differences in perceptions. Results yielded consistent and practically significant differences in these charter and traditional school perceptions of empowerment, school climate, and working conditions. Not all of these differences, however, were consistent with expectations given the educational and legislative contexts driving Colorado's charter school movement. Implications and recommendations for future research are given.

The effects of a 4 X 4 block scheduling program in a middle school on a variety of student measures were investigated. These measures included standardized achievement tests in mathematics, reading, and writing, cumulative and semester grades in middle school and high school, attendance rates, and enrollment rates in advanced high school courses (in mathematics only). The block scheduling program had been in effect for four years allowing analyses of current middle and high school students who had experienced a minimum of one and one-half years of block scheduling while in middle school. The primary research design was a post-test only, matched pairs design. Students were matched on school characteristics, gender, ethnicity, grade level, and 5th grade standardized reading scores. Results were relatively consistent with the extant literature and generally positive.

The effects of a full (4 X 4) block scheduling program and an alternate day (AB) block scheduling program in a junior high school were under investigation in this study through the use of an ex post facto, matched sampling design. Measures investigated were standardized achievement tests in science and language arts. Both forms of block scheduling had been in place for several years, and one teacher in science and one teacher in language arts had taught students under both forms of scheduling. Because the sampling designs and analyses were different for the science and the language arts areas, two studies are reported here—each examining the effects of 4 x 4, AB, and traditional scheduling with attribute variables of gender and student skill levels in each analysis. Results consistently show students in both forms of block scheduling outperforming students in traditional scheduling, and that AB block scheduling has the largest positive impact on low-achieving students.