An overview is provided of the development of quality/performance circles at Lakeshore Technical Institute (LTI), Wisconsin, and of the projects undertaken through the quality/performance circle program during its 3-year history. First, background information is provided on the use of quality circles in Japan and the United States, including…

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…

This guide helps child welfare agencies and their partners craft more family-focused and neighborhood-based service systems. It suggests a framework that agencies can use to assess their current policies and practices and develop plans to integrate Family to Family values, principles, and strategies into existing initiatives and activities. Family…

This article delineates an organizational systems framework for exploring team utilization possibilities in schools and provides guidelines for deciding when and how teams might be utilized. (Author/PN)

This article describes efforts in Colorado to develop collaborative relationships among educators to better meet needs of students with disabilities. The article stresses the importance of developing common understanding, developing a full array of services within the delivery system, and addressing school scheduling issues. (JDD)

A district coordinator of gifted education in a site-based managed school system relates the learning experiences which helped define her role as an administrator and an advocate of gifted education. Her role has involved collaborating, serving as a resource, sharing program ownership, and encouraging program differentiation across the district.…

The second of two volumes on planning parent participation programs, this guide is intended to be an aid in the actual program development. The importance of involving school faculty in the planning is emphasized. A description is provided of a seven-step development process in which the faculty team: (1) states program goals; (2) examines sample…

Describes the development of the Lunch Lab program at the Mineola (New York) Middle Schools, part of a school improvement program incorporating teacher empowerment. A committee of seven teachers and two administrators researched, developed, and implemented the pilot project that provides a special time for seventh graders to receive extra help…

Effective training, evaluation, and incentives are key aspects of this school system's six-level career ladder program for teacher development. The three-pronged committee structure for planning and communication and the program's ownership by everyone involved have been vital to its successful planning and development. (DCS)

The functional and organizational activities of the Cooperative Extension Service in the United States can be an appropriate means for providing a new image and concept to the kind of extension service that is needed in developing nations and Sri Lanka in particular. The problems of the extension program in developing nations are inherited and…

This handbook is designed to help instructors and advisory committees interact effectively in the Partners in Program Excellence (PIPE) system. It describes a way to keep a local advisory committee involved throughout the life of the training program. The handbook takes the instructor and the advisory committee through the 10 activities into which…

This guide describes a collaborative approach to high quality and relevant evaluation of a workplace basic skills program that can be carried out as part of normal program operations. It is designed for use by educators, union representatives, managers, supervisors, participating employees, and funders. The guide is organized into five phases. In…

This report documents the evaluation of a New York State Incentive Grant that was designed to improve the quality of instruction in New York City schools for students in Specialized Instructional Environment (SIE) classes during 1989-90. The program offered 25 hours of staff development training for SIE teachers and related service providers, and…

A conceptual framework that provides a mechanism for anticipating the worth and potential success of staff development activities, in advance of their implementation, is described. In the first section, descriptions are given of the four main components of the staff development framework: defining staff development, salient organizational…

This document is the product of meetings of the Prime Study Group of the Institute on Rehabilitation Issues, whose mission was to: examine consumer choice and decision making in rehabilitation; review the legislation and consumer movements leading to greater consumer choice; identify the roles and responsibilities of the consumer, the counselor,…