This article deals with creating options for schools with staff problems. It suggests a practical methodology for helping schools fight the effects of bureaupathology. (Editor)

A format for translating evaluation theory into practice structures the material around a series of questions that can be addressed in any situation. (Author/MLF)

Discusses the importance for teachers of conflict resolution through negotiation and describes a model teachers' workshop on conflict resolution. (JG)

Solution-focused counseling (SFC) brings a positive, competency-based perspective to problems experienced by individuals and organizational systems. Instead of looking for what is wrong and how to fix it, this approach discovers what is already working and investigates how to use it. SFC employs five principles: a salutary centerpiece, exceptional…

For schools that are too large to give individualized attention to student problems, the house system's team approach to problem-solving responsibility may be the answer. One house organization plan is explained in detail here. (Editor)

Learning communities require diverse expertise among members, continual advancement of collective knowledge and skills, emphasis on learning how to learn, and mechanisms for sharing understanding. This article analyzes three learning-community models (Fostering a Community of Learners, Knowledge-Building Communities, and Lampert's Mathematics…

Suggests a comprehensive problem-solving model that addresses discipline from a preventative perspective. Model provides guidelines for problem identification, methods of problem analysis, intervention techniques, and evaluation of discipline intervention. (JW)

To improve student's reading scores on the Test of Achievement and Proficiency, a rural Georgia high school initiated an improvement program based on Deming's continuous-improvement model in fall 1995. This model allows those closest to the problem to resolve it. By working continuously to improve students' testing environment, test-taking…

Total Quality Management is a team approach that challenges administrators to rethink their traditional decision-making and problem-solving strategies. This article describes the use of pilot programs (Key Communicators Network, School Leadership Teams, and a Number "One"derful Idea program) to help teachers feel part of a professional…

A Virginia science and technology high school restructured its ninth-grade curriculum by clustering three core courses in an integrated program. Students work with resource managers at Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge to gather data on species inhabiting the area. They prepare well-researched reports and present them to peers, faculty, and…