This paper presents findings of an interim evaluation of a site-based management (SBM) project involving three elementary schools in Toledo City Schools (Ohio). A survey of all teachers in the three schools elicited 52 responses, a 98 percent response rate. Teachers reported that relative progress had been made in the areas of collaboration,…

Collaboration is often cited as fundamental to systemic change efforts. This paper presents a process-based model for collaboration, which can be adopted as part of systemic, generative change. Schools attempting to create a collaborative culture often encounter the following problems: collaborators who fail to translate their experiences to…

This paper examines formal arrangements to encourage successful mentoring partnerships. It asserts that the most effective way to provide access to a variety of mentoring relationships is through formal programs that have clear goals and outcomes. Four phases of a formal mentoring program include development, consolidation, sponsorship, and…

This paper draws from a case study of first year district implementation of the California Mentor Teacher Program in one of the largest districts in California. The paper focuses on the opportunities offered to teachers who work with mentors. Through the presentation of a selection of vignettes of teachers who worked with mentors, the paper…

In developing a vision of schools capable of responding effectively to their challenges to change, futurists and reformers must solve two closely linked problems inherent in their positions. One problem is the risky business of predicting the future social and economic consequences of present trends; the other is the improbability of accurately…

This paper examines the experience of one school in southern Ohio in implmenting an interdisciplinary pilot program during the 1993-94 school year. The Connections program at Cedar City High School was designed to encompass the content areas of English, science, and social studies. The program derived its name from its interdisciplinary goals of…

An examination of the effects of collaborative interaction among 13 elementary school teachers implementing an innovative teaching approach collected data pertaining to the subjects' interdependence and lateral communication from teachers' responses to questionnaires answered at 2-week intervals throughout a school year. Data for measuring teacher…

This study looked at the experience of four high school teachers as they worked to develop a collegial community by implementing the "Connections" program. The teachers were on the faculty at Cedar City High School in southern Ohio where their subjects were, respectively, English, Social Studies, and Physical Science; one teacher was in…

To enhance the relevance and usefulness of social-science research, large-scale research grant-allocation policies are emphasizing, if not requiring, the formation of research partnerships between researchers and members of the community of practice. The emergence of a revisionist conception of traditional dissemination and utilization of…

Researchers who view schools as cultural organizations have tended to assume that they are monocultural entities. This paper presents a view of complex secondary schools as multicultural organizations. It discusses findings of a year-long study that examined the professional culture within two high schools in Washington State as each attempted to…

Assessment moderation is a procedure in which scorers or raters meet to achieve a consensus on scores assigned to student work. In the Science Education for Public Understanding Program (SEPUP), local teams of teachers met regularly at six sites nationwide to score student work, review methods of assigning scores, discuss and resolve discrepancies…

To examine the durability of educational changes, researchers studied the school-related factors that promote or hinder the maintenance of classroom instructional changes beyond the initial period of change implementation. A brief review of the literature on change durability also reveals a paucity of research on the subject. The researchers…

This paper presents a grounded theory of educational partnership process. A case-study design was used to describe aspects of the partnership process of the Cooperative Alliance for Gifted Education (CAGE) during part of its second year of operation. Three organizations served as partners: a large urban school district, a state university, and a…

This qualitative study of teachers'"sensemaking" about changing professional relationships and inclusive education involved interviews and observations of three teachers over the course of a school year. The teachers, one each from regular and special education and a "collaborating teacher," were employed in an urban upper elementary school in the…

The purpose of this action research study was twofold: first, to identify administrator behaviors which enhance or inhibit the development of trust between teachers and administrators; and, second, to improve trust through a collaborative administrator/teacher trust building program. The project involved the three schools (totalling seven…