This article introduces the reader to the Essential Leadership Model (ELM). The ELM provides a vocabulary and framework for clarifying and prioritizing the many complex and competing demands of the principalship. The ELM supports principals in identifying the critical needs of a school and the leadership knowledge, skills, and dispositions to meet…

Building coalitions of secondary schools and businesses in order to improve education is best conducted by principals. Based on a national analysis, nine points will assist in building coalitions. (CJH)

Teacher effectiveness, and the quality of education, will improve if simple solutions to such common problems as classroom discipline and "teacher burnout" are seriously implemented. (2 references) (CJH)

Focuses on three areas for building effective school, family, and community partnership programs: a planning framework, an organizational structure, and an assessment of challenges. (Contains 23 references.) (PKP)

The community of Battle Creek, Michigan, pays tribute yearly to outstanding educators and high school seniors at Excellence in Education Day, a program with three basic components that can be put together by other community educators. (CJH)

Interaction with the business world has provided schools with many advantages. Examples are technological improvements in business education and skills in personal organization. (CJH)

"Strengthening School Transitions for Students K-13," conceived and sponsored by NASSP and other organizations, was a project helping seven demonstration school districts address student transition problems. This article summarizes program accomplishments, critical transition points, and keys to success and describes each demonstration…

Curriculum auditing is a quality-control process. If a course is not meeting expectations, is not serving students, or needs adjustment, the Roanoke Valley (Virginia) Governor's School for Science and Technology employs benchmarking to attain data to fix the problem or move in another direction. (MLH)

The recent national report on the quality of education in the United States has noted the need for effective methods of evaluating teaching performance. These evaluations are best done by administrators. The pros and cons of various approaches to evaluation are discussed. Includes five references. (Author/MD)

Describes the successful program implemented at Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis (Indiana) for increasing the participation of parents, students, and teachers in school governance. Identifies new roles performed by teachers, administrators, parents, and students and notes two dramatic results of the program's first year. (PGD)

Principals need sensitive measures of school climate to diagnose problems and monitor progress in overcoming them. This article discusses the Effective School Battery developed by Johns Hopkins University and used to describe individual schools in terms of 34 specific aspects of environmental, teacher, and student characteristics. Includes one…

Experience in 12 Colorado school districts suggests that implementation of a four-day school week can offer several benefits, including savings in fuel costs, decreased absenteeism, improved efficiency in activity-oriented classes, increased staff development time, and a flexible "fifth day" for extracurricular activities. (PGD)

Dublin (Ohio) High School developed a process to assess its program and expand its curriculum. This article describes the roles of consultants, faculty, and the board of education in creating a policy document without specifying procedures for curriculum revision, staff selection and deployment, and time management. (MLH)

The Adopt-a-School program, involving the 50 schools of Augusta, Georgia, has increased community commitment to public education. Assisted by business and community organizations, each school's program includes needs assessment and human resources development. (CJH)

Describes the characteristics and effectiveness of the I/D/E/A Principals' Inservice Program, in which principals form collegial support groups to encourage one another in planning and implementing personal professional development and school improvement projects and in committing themselves to permanent programs of continuous improvement. (PGD)