Over the past decade, states have dramatically expanded prekindergarten services (Pre-K), given the evidence that high-quality early childhood education can put children on a path to success in school and later life. To support the expansion, most of those states have adopted a mixed delivery system, developing the new educational opportunities in…

This handbook, written for educators (teachers, principals, central office administrators, university faculty, and area educational agency staff) offers guidelines on how to establish, maintain, and evaluate a practitioner-driven school network. Such a network is created and governed by practitioners who decide what services they want, modify the…

Leadership for school change, this book contends, must be shared. Administrators, teachers, staff, parents, and community members must become more knowledgeable about the change process and more proficient at working through it. This book provides guidance and resources for school leadership teams and practitioners and students of change. The…

This paper considers four notions of teacher professionalism--traditional, managerial, collaborative and democratic professionalism. While its focus is on England, the increasing convergence of education policy around the world means that its discussion and arguments have much wider relevance. The paper begins by outlining the different…

This paper describes outcomes of a partnership between the Rochester City School District (New York) and the Kodak 21st Century Learning Challenge consulting program for improving school-based planning team (S-BPT) operations. The purpose of the school-based planning team is to involve the entire school community in improving school effectiveness.…

This booklet proposes four actions that school leaders, particularly school district superintendents, can take to promote simultaneous improvement of educator education and public schools. The proposed actions are that school leaders: (1) make preservice education a true priority; (2) cooperate in establishing partner schools that serve as…

This training guide is intended to help Head Start staff and parents build the skills they need to work together on decision-making teams and to help develop ground rules by which the decision-making partnership will operate. The guide develops skills in analyzing the extent to which parents are currently encouraged to participate in the key…

The research methodology of this study included both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Samples consisted of school counselors from 66 Victorian, 33 ACT, and 71 NSW schools in Australia. Findings show that building genuine partnerships between school and external communities requires lots of effort, commitment, and time. Effectiveness of a…

Collaborative activities can be an ideal means to improve teacher preparation experiences. The article discusses the benefits of collaboration for both teacher educators and K-12 teachers. It details the benefits of collaborative writing projects and provides a checklist of questions professionals should ask when they contact each other to discuss…

Collaborations between schools and parents, and schools and other institutions, seek to improve or expand available resources. This issue of "Focus in Change" focuses on two elementary schools with different models of collaboration in place. At Columbia Park Elementary School (Maryland) parents have been involved in site-based management teams…

This document, which was developed to assist Peace Corps volunteers and those responsible for training them, presents an introductory booklet and six toolkits for use in the training provided to and by volunteers involved in community development. All the materials emphasize long-term participatory approaches to sustainable development and a…