As external forces demand change in the delivery of postsecondary education and institutions seek to take advantage of new opportunities, the potential for achieving higher levels of student and institutional success is vast. New technologies, communication tools, data use, and organizational constructs present key factors in improving the…

Observers of school reform efforts in 17 central New York school districts found a performance dip that sets in during the implementation stage. Staff performance suffers because everyone is learning the new system. Assistance, support, and training need to be offered until everyone has mastered the basics. Gradually, the reforms will become an…

Educational leadership, curriculum development, and staff development are critical areas that need improvement for long-term educational gains. (MD)

How can a school become a place where all members of the staff are learning, growing, and working to increase student achievement? The answer lies in systems thinking and a focus on continuous improvement, two concepts that can transform staff development from something that people merely tolerate to something that they actively pursue to create…

When remedying deficiencies disclosed by national educational reform commissions, school districts must be as concerned with quality as with quantity. In response to a demand by 17 school districts to study their schools' effectiveness, Emporia State University's College of Education (Kansas) has developed an assessment model and initiated a…

Effective schools research offers administrators evidence of teaching methods that enhance student achievement; imparting this knowledge to faculty through staff development is essential. A solution to the problem of interrupting classroom time for staff development is to utilize teacher time in a nonthreatening method that is collegial in nature.…

Research evidence clearly indicates the need to improve the school administrator's effectiveness as a key factor in educational reform. One difficulty is balancing administrators' wants with organizational needs. Inservice education planners' examination of these wants and needs led to the client-based needs assessment process described in this…

Describes the procedure by which content area teachers are trained to implement the use of study guides in their classrooms. (AEA)

How has special education policy evolved over the years, and where should it go in the near future? One of the best known and most respected leaders in special education policy, Jim Gallagher, takes a candid and critical look at these questions in this informative book. Students, administrators, and policymakers will fully understand how four…

There has been a diversity of activity to change policies relating to the recruitment, admission, and preparation of new educational professionals in college and university settings. These policies, coupled with state mandated polices to upgrade the competence of current teachers and administrators, has resulted in a great amount of policy to…

The article proposes training rural educators to become self-directed in their own improvement activities. The article summarizes current literature and notes four skills necessary for self-directed development: objectivity; self-critiques; examining only a few instructional skills at a given time; and reinforcement of self. (SB)

Identifies essential aspects of administrative planning that must be considered when moving from a traditional reading preservice education program to a competency, field-based model of instruction. (TJ)

While studies of school climate abound, conceptual frameworks have been ambiguous, and parent perceptions of climate are seldom considered. This paper describes a school improvement model employed in four rural Maine school districts in which (1) a school climate assessment is designed collaboratively with school staff; (2) the assessment is…

Explores the link between the management of fiscal retrenchment and the need for more effective schools. Describes school improvement strategies based on the school effectiveness research and on past experience with educational change programs. A final section discusses the potential role of these strategies in the larger context of educational…

Beginning with the premise that all pupils can learn if given sufficient time and proper assistance, this paper discusses the efforts of East Orange Public School District (New Jersey) to develop a comprehensive system for improving school administrators' instructional leadership capabilities. The presentation's objectives are threefold: (1)…