The current push for principals' to be accountable for student outcomes has led to a renewed interest in the role of leadership in instructional improvement. This article describes the development and validation of a survey that focused on organisational management features that are likely to bring about improvement in instruction. The development…

This study reports on a participatory design approach including the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of a mobile app-based personal response system (PRS). The first cycle formulated initial design principles through context and needs analysis; the second utilized the collaboration with instructors and experts embodying specific…

Social Empowerment Art Therapy (SEAT) aims to address the stigma of mental illness through the artistic empowerment of participants. The model was developed within an inpatient psychiatric setting from observations of a shared governance structure that empowered residents. Incorporating an open art studio approach and social action art therapy,…

In this chapter we show how a new type of political knowledge can be harnessed from everyday communication flows between citizens to support community and policy development processes. The emergence of this new knowledge will be enabled by an e-supported deliberation process (SOWIT) that aims to improve political communication and deliberation…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report the formative evaluation results from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Healthy School Communities (HSC) pilot project. Design/methodology/approach: This study utilized 11 HSC pilot sites in the USA (eight sites) and Canada (three sites). The evaluation question was…

Many schools have problem-solving teams that support teachers by helping identify and resolve students' academic and social problems. Although research is limited, it has been found that teams sometimes fail to implement problem-solving processes with fidelity, which may hinder the resolution of problems. We developed the Team-Initiated Problem…

Teacher transfer requests interfere with the stability and continuity of teaching thereby causing low student performance. The purpose of the study was to investigate how teacher transfer requests can be minimized. The study employed a descriptive survey design. The population of the study included 16 head teachers, 126 teachers and the provincial…

Today's students find the traditional lecture-based teaching format less desirable and seem to prefer a more hands-on learning experience. Consequently, it has become necessary to redesign the introductory MIS course. This paper describes a new modular approach to delivering the introductory course. The primary focus is to provide students with…

This paper focuses on a case study pilot project working with a small group of children aged 6- to 10-years-old in a village in the northeast of England. The study was established to examine children's attitudes to environmental issues, particularly their involvement in environmental decisions and their feelings about planning, design and…

Centennial High School in Gresham, Oregon, was one of three pilot schools selected in 1983 to use a research-based school improvement process developed by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. In the process, the local school establishes a leadership team to manage school improvement, collects data on student performance, uses the data to…

This article is based on a pilot study which sought to directly engage pupils in a current government policy initiative using a variety of e-consultation mechanisms and explores how this innovative use of technology could support citizenship education in schools. Drawing on qualitative data collected from interviews with pupils and teachers it…

Words Work! and Community Action Head Start have been working together for seven years to provide training, consultation, mentoring, and resources to teachers in pilot classrooms as they learned to implement effective early literacy strategies. In its work with teachers, Words Work! developed a culture "where ongoing assessment, reflective…

This research examines how department heads in (British) secondary schools perceive their management roles and their access to the real decision-making power that occurs outside departmental confines, but within schools. In structured interviews, 30 department heads from 21 schools were encouraged to reflect on opportunities for collegial…

Describes how undergraduate students (N=38), participating in a residential pilot community standards program, grappled with conflicting constructs of power and authority, and learned how to distribute power and authority in new ways. Proposes two interrelated conditions for promoting shared authority among students and student affairs…

Summarizes the historical background, planning, and implementation of a School-Based Management/Shared Decision Making (SBM/SDM) program in Dade County (Florida). Highlights interim evaluation findings and recommendations. (FMW)