Conventional thinking holds that districts and schools face a strategic decision between two fundamentally different alternatives: make or buy? The former refers to planning, designing, and enacting school-specific improvement initiatives. The latter refers to contracting with external providers of schoolwide improvement programs. However, there…

Improving the Russian economy depends in part on having well-educated and energetic personnel, and this is being hindered by universities in which there is an aging professoriate and students enrolled in specialties that are not in demand by employers. Higher education is expected not only to conduct programs of specialist training in order to…

Of the cadre of non-educators--business leaders, military men, government officials, lawyers--who have been called on to transform large urban school districts in recent years, Paul Vallas has been at it the longest and, in the minds of many, is the one with the best track record. Since 1995, he has tackled the third- and eighth-largest districts…

Principals manage schools, ensuring that nothing interrupts business as usual. They spend little time on instruction. A good principal is the one who works in a high-achieving school that has no significant management problems. Districts celebrate improved student results by recognizing an outstanding crop of students, rarely pointing to the…

The Conception of the Modernization of Russian Education has as its objective that of ensuring the anticipatory development of the training of highly qualified workers in the primary and secondary link. This article describes the efforts of the Russian government to improve the quality, accessibility, and effectiveness of professional education…

Virginia state officials selected the University of Virginia to run a training program that will let an experienced school leader earn a credential as a "turnaround specialist." This strategy, borrowed from the corporate world, is meant to form an elite cadre of school leaders that are able to jump-start improvement in low-performing…

In Colorado, a project was developed to teach participants a collaborative planning process for staff development and to assist in the design of a system of personnel development. Areas covered included: (1) selection of cadre members; (2) participation; (3) program design; and (4) consultants' reflections. (JN)

In 655 schools in 27 states, the Literacy Collaborative aims to improve elementary students' literacy achievement. A trained literacy coordinator trains other teachers and provides in-class coaching. Systematic collection of data on every child and data utilization by all program participants support continuous school improvement and create a…

Methods and curriculum used to train teachers at the Irvine (California) Unified School District in computer literacy are described. A cadre of teachers already familiar with computers conducted training for colleagues. (PP)

A Macomb County, Michigan, school district trained a cadre of local teachers to lead stress reduction workshops at individual schools. The program's effects at several schools are described, along with suggestions for using the "training of trainers" approach with other topics in education. (PP)

Procedures used by the Eugene (Oregon) Public Schools to train staff members as organizational development specialists are described. School employees volunteer time to work as internal consultants, using organizational management concepts to help colleagues in the school system improve their organizational capabilities, interact effectively,…

Alaska has mounted an intensive statewide staff development effort to help teachers and administrators use research-based practices. Leadership teams from each school, with assistance from the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, develop improvement plans and implementation strategies. Administrators, teachers, and school board members…

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)

Edmonds School District (Washington) was a winner in the 1999 National Awards Programs for Model Professional Development. Teacher participation in district decisions, district funding for professional development at six times the national average, mentoring for new teachers, research into best practices for professional development, and teacher…

Considers qualities required of rural teachers in the USSR and implications for teacher education. Reports survey results of 430 rural teachers in the Tatar region concerning what a rural teacher must know and problems specific to rural teaching. Concludes that rural teachers must coordinate teaching with social work and face housing and material…