Discusses improving attendance of staff and administrators by providing various financial and recognition-oriented incentives including savings bonds, plaques, and a year-end trophy. Rewards for perfect and near-perfect attendance resulted in a 16 percent improvement in total staff attendance and improvement in 90 percent of individual schools.…

Explores the issue of professionalism in music education, devoting particular attention to the definition and role of a master teacher. States that music educators must "translate" general master teacher criteria into appropriate requirements for themselves. Provides examples of this "translation" in the areas of curriculum leadership and staff…

Provides excerpts from the task force report which proposes the use of individual professional development plans and calls for strengthening the bonds between elementary and secondary music educators and college faculty. (JDH)

Describes the experiences of a college dean and a professor of educational administration who returned to the public schools as administrators in the Kansas City (Missouri) schools. From their experiences with implementing change within schools, they learned that professional staff development activities do not foster substantive change unless…

Outlines a four-year program developed in the Hemet Unified School district that is working to imporve the quality of education through a more effective evaluation process. (MD)

Goals of Project TARGET (Teacher Assessment Related to Gifted Education) were to develop a needs assessment instrument, administer it, develop a training model tailored to classroom needs, evaluate training effectiveness, and identify teacher perceived barriers to gifted education. Program success was attributed to providing relevant activities,…

Describes a staff evaluation program based on Gordon's (1977) model. Presents a system of monthly individual conferences where child care staff discuss their productive work areas, what they or their supervisors perceive to be problems, and ideas for improvement. Many suggestions are given for planning and conducting conferences. (CB)

A critical review of the Preservice Teacher Education Improvement Project observes both the project as a whole and the efforts of the various institutions involved. An alternative view for improving teacher education programs is suggested. (DF)

Staff development is the key to middle school effectiveness, and this article lists characteristics of an effective staff development program, examples of activities and topics, and questions for program evaluation. (DCS)

This article reports on the first year of a Madeline Hunter program implementation study. Thirteen teachers in two schools were observed before and after a three-month intervention to identify relationships between staff development programs, teacher implementation of the program, student engaged rates, and student achievement in reading and…

To recognize high performance administrators, a South Carolina school district has added a performance incentive to the basic salary plan for administrators. Criteria for comparing job targets that are selected by the administrators are based on scope, complexity, and anticipated impact. (MLF)

Describes how New Mexico's Section 310 personnel reviewed the literature on self-directed learning and devised strategies for integrating self-directed learning into staff development training. Their plan for accomplishing this is described. (Author/CT)

Presents results from a Curriculum Research for Agricultural Education survey to 885 staff members on such staff development activities as conferences, academic study, and in-house provisions. Analysis of quantity, event type, activity type, and staff level indicates a need for review of staff development in agricultural education. (DH)

A principal of a Texas junior high school theorizes about the role of principal as instructional leader. He offers suggestions for developing instructional leadership in the areas of organizational goals and objectives, personnel, staff evaluation, and curriculum planning. Includes a reference list. (MD)

This annotated list of references represents current knowledge in five areas related to effective schools and classrooms. These areas are (1) the process of education change; (2) school and classroom culture; (3) student cognition; (4) student affect; and (5) school improvement and staff development. Also included are references to middle school…