Using teams is an effective way to meet the challenges of breaking down teacher isolation, halting curriculum fragmentation, and creating a learning organization. This guide is designed to help school leaders train groups to become teams, guide them to become high-performance teams, and empower them to become technology-based teams. It contains…

As defined in North Carolina, curriculum alignment is the process that examines the way curriculum is taught to ensure it is consistent with the content of the curriculum as specified in "The Standard Course of Study." The process also includes aligning classroom instruction and assessments to the state assessments. This training skills…

This booklet was designed to help families, school professionals, and students understand the function and purpose of comprehensive school improvement. It is part of the SILC Road initiative, which was founded by several education groups in Colorado for the purpose of helping schools educate all students. The volume focuses on the elements of the…

Crisis management teams in a rural New York State school district include 6 to 10 members. Each group must go through three days of intensive training that prepares them to deal with the media, legal issues, students, parents, and peers, while maintaining as much academic normalcy as possible in crisis situations. Lists crisis team…

Developed by the Florida Parent to Parent Support Program, two manuals provide materials for developing local parent-to-parent support groups for parents of children with a broad range of special needs, including those with sensory, physical, or learning disorders; developmental disabilities; emotional disturbances; and those at high risk for or…

This handbook is designed to help educators set the stage for collaboration and teamwork by teaching how to become a SMART School using focus, reflection, collaboration, and leadership to set strategic and specific, measurable, results-based, and time-bound goals. The progress made in reaching these goals can then be measured using the…

For inclusion of students with disabilities to work successfully in schools, a sense of community among faculty and students, a shared mission, and the ability to successfully collaborate with others are essential. Activities to promote collegial relationships among faculty should be a part of each inclusion team's plan for implementing inclusion…

School improvement teams are assembled to share leadership responsibility with the principal. Differing from advisory councils in that they have more involvement in decision making, and differing from management teams in that they include role groups other than administrators, school improvement teams may be composed of teachers and the principal…

To reduce Rhode Island's high percentage of students being classified as learning disabled, an advisory committee recommended development of a statewide Learning Disabilities Identification Process (L.D.I.D.), to prepare evaluation teams to consistently consider regulatory criteria and to justify their decisions when making learning disability…

This document is a stand-alone training package for staff development providers in rural small schools. Based on research and best-practice information, the school improvement model used promotes cooperation, content transferability, and adaptations for long-term program maintenance. The underlying assumptions of the model are that when school…

School improvement is a complex, multifaceted process requiring continuous planning, implementation, and monitoring over a sustained period. This skills packet provides schools with an awareness of the school- improvement process and serves as a resource to plan for school improvement. Schools are strongly encouraged to participate in a series of…

The purpose of this paper is to propose a format to implement an integrated team concept, the basic premises involved, the composition of the team, a training procedure, and finally, to share some of the results of such a program with handicapped clients at a rehabilitation facility. (Author)

This resource manual focuses on the development and enhancement of student program planning teams in schools oriented to inclusive education of students with disabilities. First, the terms inclusion, integration, and mainstreaming are clarified. Then, the challenge of developing instructional and behavioral plans that allow students to learn…

This manual is designed to assist paraprofessionals and teachers in forming a strong instructional team dedicated to helping Chapter 1 students succeed in the regular school program. Paraprofessionals often arrive in Chapter 1 classrooms with little or inadequate training. In addition, Chapter 1 and regular classroom teachers working with teacher…

In recognition of the limitations of isolated decision making, teamwork has emerged as a preferred approach for educating students both with and without disabilities. The Vermont Interdependent Services Team Approach (VISTA) process described in this manual offers ways to think about and implement many of the tenets of collaborative teamwork to…