Background: Research indicates the value of active support in achieving good outcomes across a number of quality of life domains for people with intellectual disabilities. However, implementation is not easy, and little research has explored why. We aimed to identify some of the factors that impact on implementation of active support in supported…

Schools across the country are implementing professional development initiatives with the intent of improving student outcomes. Over the past twenty years the criterion for measuring professional development has shifted from identifying what schools quantify to how professional development impacts students' performance. Teachers are under a…

Professional learning communities (PLCs) provide schools with a tool to meet the professional development needs of their teachers through ongoing, job-embedded staff development designed to improve instruction and student learning. While research exists on the development of PLCs, there is a gap in the literature concerning the principal's role in…

Educators must take a critical look at all factors that may affect student outcomes. The No Child Left Behind Legislation (NCLB) was proposed to help ensure that all students have fair and equal access to educational programming. It is important for secondary school educators to be aware of environmental factors that may inhibit student success.…

This paper reports the progress made by the Illinois State Library for 2008-2011. The library's achievements are presented according to the following goals: (1) Promote the use of technology to improve library services; (2) Provide leadership to the Illinois Library community to enhance library service; (3) Increase access to library services for…

This study investigated the use of organizational learning community principles to effectively manage organizational change. Target is a pseudonym for a small public school in Southern New Jersey that has provided educational services to students with special needs since 1969. In 2004 Target began providing services to a new population of students…

Purpose: This paper seeks to present organizational learning processes of knowledge accumulation, articulation, codification and subsequent routine development in a marketing services organization where judgment and rules of thumb were more the norm than codified knowledge and explicit routines. The case illustrates how organizational learning…

A conceptual framework is presented, based upon a review of relevant literature sources, as well as upon preliminary impressions from a study of effective schools in California. This framework involves 14 variables that are discussed at length. (CT)

Argues that providing leadership and opportunities for staff members to become more effective in their jobs are the primary responsibilities of a school principal. Offers a number of suggestions for use in staff development. (FL)

Dissertations (301) completed by graduate students majoring in extension and adult education at Cornell University are listed in this document by year completed. They are indexed under nine general topics: administrative organization and management; comparative extension and adult education; Communication methods; effectiveness and progress of…

A carefully developed, comprehensive professional development plan takes time, energy, and coordination of resources, but when it's done well, it can seem as effortless as a perfectly pitched curve ball. Seven steps, each with a set of guiding questions, can help planners meet the goal and create a program that produces results. [Appended to this…

This study examined high-performing after-school projects funded by The After-School Corporation (TASC), to determine what characteristics, if any, these projects shared. Evaluators reanalyzed student performance data collected during the multi-year evaluation of the TASC initiative to identify projects where the after-school program was…

Effective corporate adventure training programs: (1) develop parallel structures between the adventure experience and the workplace (context); (2) consider how the learning will address a company's future needs (continuity); (3) provide learners with valid information and feedback on their actions (consequences); and (4) create physically and…

Issues in preservice preparation of Canadian school administrators, with a focus on the effectiveness of a principal certification course implemented by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), are described. A review of current preservice practices in Canada concludes that traditional programs are issues oriented and lack conceptual…

The purpose of this action research study was twofold: first, to identify administrator behaviors which enhance or inhibit the development of trust between teachers and administrators; and, second, to improve trust through a collaborative administrator/teacher trust building program. The project involved the three schools (totalling seven…