Describes the Birmingham (Michigan) Public Schools' morale-boosting program. First the superintendent established a district communications team (composed of administrators, teachers, and noncertified staff members) to plan morale-building events. The district also hired a consultant to work with staff and students to improve specific aspects of…

This booklet describes one of the earliest staff development models to support school-based improvement, the RPTIM model. The letters "RPTIM" represent the five stages of the school-based approach to staff development--readiness, planning, training, implementation, and maintenance. The model is based on the belief that the school is the primary…

The article details aspects of a collaborative administrative style in a special school for gifted children, describing the function of administrators and other adults as role models, the sharing and delegation of decision making, a team approach to professional growth and support, and accountability through a "rich rules" system.…

Educators at Fairfax County Public Schools (Virginia) built on a first- and second-grade curriculum integration project at Jefferson County Public Schools (Colorado) by implementing a kindergarten instructional program with three integrated strands: motor development/music, mathematics/science, and language arts. The program's success hinged on…

Borrowing from Madeline Hunter, school districts should define staff development as school- or district-wide efforts to improve the quality of teacher decision-making. This article outlines a six-step process (including needs assessment, brainstorming, strategic plannning, communicating plans, coaching for effectiveness, and periodic monitoring)…

This paper identifies a number of factors that staff developers should consider in planning an effective program. A staff development program is considered to be effective if teachers adapt the material or content learned into their classrooms and retain the implementation over time, if teachers and administrators express satisfaction with the…

A case study describes how a rural local education agency (Allegany County, Maryland) developed a comprehensive staff development system. It presents some contextual and theoretical background information, summarizes the problem as perceived by key actors, and then describes a series of activities resulting in the development of the comprehensive…

To implement School Based Management (SBM) in Charleston County, South Carolina, the school district was reorganized to include a management team to make shared decisions on all phases of district activities. Local schools were required to develop short and long range plans that encouraged needs assessment, goal identification, strategy…

Teachers prefer that staff development be continuous, relevant, and integral to their jobs. A systems approach to staff development contains three basic components: planning, implementation, and evaluation. The proposed model emphasizes how interdependence of these components can be achieved through the use of feedback which facilitates system…

This article identifies and discusses schoolwide staff development which differs from the traditional model and is based on three principles: shared responsibility, teacher empowerment, and community growth. A model teacher-run faculty development program is described. The 10-component program operates at the McCallie School (TN). (IAH)

This paper explores the decision-making process leading to school district approval for staff development. A retrospective field study approach was used to investigate the decision of a small, rural school district in eastern Washington (enrollment 2,200) to adopt a comprehensive English composition teaching program throughout the curriculum. This…

This document is a stand-alone training package for staff development providers in rural small schools. Based on research and best-practice information, the school improvement model used promotes cooperation, content transferability, and adaptations for long-term program maintenance. The underlying assumptions of the model are that when school…

Following an 11-month period of study, planning, and pilot testing, a project was undertaken at Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) to implement quality circles, i.e., small groups of employees doing similar work who voluntarily meet on a regular basis to set goals, identify and analyze problems, find solutions, and cooperate with management…

Recent research shows that principals can heavily influence schools' organizational effectiveness. This report describes the instructional leadership roles of elementary and high school principals participating in the Wayne State University Staff Development for School Improvement Program (SDSI) conducted from 1981 through 1984. The SDSI school…

Quality circles attempt to satisfy both task and personal needs through staff involvement in solving work-related problems. This paper summarizes quality circle theory, applies it to school settings, and suggests a framework for introducing the process to educational institutions. After briefly defining quality circles, the article presents two…