The concept of reflective practice and teaching people to be reflective practitioners is examined. The document begins with a look at professional knowledge according to three prominent professionals in the educational administration field: Schon, Schein, and Achilles. "Reflective" strategies that could be incorporated into courses and…

The case method should be used in both preservice and inservice training for administrators to strengthen training programs and help administrators develop practical human relations skills, learn stress reduction and burnout prevention strategies, learn team-building, and develop critical and reflective thinking skills. (14 references) (MLH)

Theater as representation (TAR) is a teaching medium that employs a live performance or reading of an original dramatic scenario based on a true-life incident. This paper presents the background, script, and general audience reactions to a TAR scenario used in a graduate educational administration course. (Contains 35 references.) (MLH)

A national model for the training of principals as instructional leaders: the Indiana Principal Leadership Academy is described. The paper includes a statement of vision, an explanation of how the program is operated, a description of the instructional methods employed, and a list of the warranties issued to graduates of the academy. Three other…

Describes the development of a human resource management (HRM) elective for educators aspiring to management positions in various educational settings. The unit is part of a graduate diploma offered within the Faculty of Education at one Australian university. The paper argues the necessity of HRM studies in postgraduate education courses. (SM)

This report reviews recent research on strategies that have been found to promote useful and effective inservice training programs in desegregated schools. The first section presents approaches for planning and implementing inservice training for desegregation. The second section describes inservice desegregation training programs that focus on:…

This paper examines the effectiveness of field-based preparation programs for school administrators. It reviews research in the field, pointing out that leadership, decision-making, and role performance have been the major interest areas. Outlining current theory in field-based program design, the author describes general systems theory as the…

Research shows conclusively that principals and other school leaders are essential to school improvement, and that these individuals benefit from the intensive, contextualized support that a coach or mentor can provide. But how does a coach support a school leader in mastering the professional and emotional challenges of school leadership for a…

The professional growth of teachers and improvement in teaching skills are often the results of skillful use by supervisors of clinical procedures of observation in both inservice workshops and student teaching situations. The observation cycle for improving pupil learning has five stages: (1) pre-observation conference between the student…

Indiana University South Bend (IUSB) School Leadership Project has adopted as a central educational strategy, problem based learning and its sub-model, problems of practice, in its program to prepare school leaders. Problems of practice is an active learning model that involves students in taking responsibility for their learning by immersing…

This report examines the types of professional development necessary to implement successful online learning initiatives. The potential for schools utilizing online learning is tremendous: schools can develop new distribution methods to enable equity and access for all students, they can provide high quality content for all students and they can…

Proceedings of the University/Urban Schools Task Force conference on what works in urban schools are summarized in this report. The future direction of the Task Force, articulated by conference participants, is described as a move toward the conceptualization and design of programs to teach thinking skills versus programs that mainly teach subject…

The Montgomery County, Maryland school district has a five-year plan to develop and install revised instructional systems in four major subjects. The components of the instructional system are: performance objectives for pupils, appropriate student placement based on performance, instructional guides for teachers, assessment tasks, and pupil…

These proceedings contain 90 papers that address important human factors in distance education from several perspectives, provide insights into how those factors contribute to successful outcomes, and describe practical methods for implementing similar approaches in other settings. They include "Is Your E-Everything Accessible to…