This document addresses the twin issues of youth violence and school safety. Violence from the larger society has spilled over into schools in ways that can make them unsafe, and school safety has emerged as a pressing concern of public schools. Violence within the context of schooling is expressed in extreme forms of reactive and proactive…

The term "peer consultation," like the term "teaching," encompasses many methods and strategies. Some confusion about peer consultation (often called "peer coaching") stems from lack of understanding about how these procedures use peers (fellow teachers) as observers, mentors, coaches, or collaborators. To dispel…

Syntheses of reading research conducted by the National Research Council (1998) and more recently by the Congressionally-Commissioned National Reading Panel (2000) provide ample evidence of the skills, experience, and knowledge children need to become successful readers in an alphabetic writing system. This research makes clear that children must…

A bargaining process, begun over 10 years ago, is based on problem-solving rather than on adversarial confrontation and uses elements of participative management. It has resulted in outstanding benefits for two school districts. Called "Theory Z bargaining," the process follows a procedure based on each side treating the other with…

Suggesting that a missing link between effective practices and their sustained implementation is the "host environment" into which practices, programs, procedures, and pedagogy are translated, this bulletin describes the need for prevention and intervention models in beginning reading that are anchored to the school as the host environment. The…

Long-range planning is becoming increasingly important for educators in today's rapidly changing society. This bulletin accordingly presents a step-by-step model for school districts to use in developing and successfully implementing a long-range plan. Chapter 1 introduces long-range planning and suggests ways of getting district personnel…

Factors that can powerfully affect an educator's ability to manage school change are culture, leadership, and readiness. Movement from bureaucracy to community, from isolation to collaboration, involves cultural changes. Managing the change process within a cultural context is influenced by the structural, human resources, political, and symbolic…

This monograph reviews the research in linkages between schools and families of children with disabilities. An introductory section offers vignettes showing a typical school/home relationship of a family with a Down syndrome child in either 1958, 1978, or 1998. Part 1 considers what research has found about family functioning in terms of the…

Nongraded primary education is the practice of teaching children of different ages and ability levels together, without dividing them or the curriculum into steps labeled by "grade" designations. Changing from graded to nongraded structure requires a major investment of time, energy, and commitment on the part of teachers and…

Profiled in this report are three Oregon first-grade teachers--the state's 1984 Teacher of the Year and two other finalists for that title. Distinguishing characteristics of the teaching approach of Jonelle Maurer of the Lincoln Elementary School in Grants Pass include phonics and group reading instruction, the use of activity centers, and a…