New management teams should not try to borrow purposes and organizational structures; they should develop their own, based on the unique needs of their district and their team members. Organizational structures are less important than interpersonal trust in the smooth functioning of a management team. (SJL)

Educators from Fullerton Union High School District, Newport-Mesa Unified School District, Capistrano Unified School District, and Huntington Beach Union High School District describe their efforts toward developing competency-based curriculum to meet state mandates. (SJL)

Instructions are given for creating a staff development content profile out of the expressed in-service needs of individual staff members. Articles in this journal issue report on presentations made at the First Curriculum Conference of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) in 1978. (SJL)

A powerful vision can help a school focus its values and reach beyond the ordinary to the extraordinary. No matter how well-formulated a vision can fail if inappropriate or when poorly communicated or implemented. A Northeastern Regional Lab document entitled "The Walk" can prompt school community members' reflective thinking in the…

A unique feature of the Vallejo/Dominican College Teacher Corps Project (California) is that the first year is set aside for planning. This allows better needs assessment, more teacher involvement, and a broader definition of staff development. (Author/JM)

In 1976, the Shasta County Schools management staff devised a system to identify the factors of responsibility in management positions and to assign position titles and salaries on this basis. Factors were identified in the areas of program management, budget, and personnel supervision and weighted to rank staff positions. (SJL)

Presented are brief descriptions and comments by administrators of some California arts programs on producing a quality arts program inexpensively. Topics discussed are: initiating a Comprehensive Arts program, the use of CETA artists-in-residence, curriculum development, and the coordination of a high school fine arts program. (Author/SJL)

If schools rush into Back-to-Basics the way they once rushed into open education, educational quality will not improve and the positive, humanistic attributes of progressive education may be lost. Change must be slowly and carefully planned and provide adequate support to the teachers who must implement it. (SJL)

Noting the changing role of the principal toward instructional supervision, this article suggests several plans by which California schools and districts can put together staff development programs using resources from the state's school improvement legislation, AB 65. (SJL)

The Torrance (California) Unified School District is proving that learning flourishes when the community collaborates to create a conflict-resolution program. This article profiles North High School's efforts to develop and select peer mediators, integrate conflict-resolution principles into the curriculum, address roots of conflict in the…

The structure, implementation, and advantages of Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District's decentralized management and budgeting system are described. (SJL)

This article describes the inception and objectives of Project LEAD (League for Educational Administrator Development), an in-service consortium of school districts, county offices of education, institutions of higher education, and professional associations in the Sacramento, California area. Results of LEAD's in-service priorities assessment are…

A framework is presented for district long-range instructional planning which takes into account the financial uncertainty caused by the funding cuts of California's Proposition 13--the Jarvis-Gann initiative of 1978. (SJL)

When designing competency based education programs to meet state requirements, California educators would do well to select only a small number of highly significant competencies per basic skill area, for which they can devise on-target instruction and valid competency measures. (SJL)

Assertive Discipline (AD) advocates a systematic approach which enables teachers to set firm, consistent limits for students while remaining cognizant of students' need for warmth and positive support. This article describes effective and ineffective teacher disciplinary behaviors, AD competencies, and the implementation of AD at Rice Elementary…