Finding ways to accurately document and record faculty performance can be difficult and time-consuming for the department chair. However, if performance reviews are viewed as a system for improvement, they can provide constructive feedback to the faculty member and offer the opportunity for goal-setting and mutually-supported professional growth.…

American policymakers have come to view principals as linchpins in plans for educational change. Findings of a study that examined how the principal's role changes in a school that is engaged in fundamental restructuring are presented in this paper. Data for the longitudinal case study of a suburban-urban school district in the northeastern United…

Economic forces and educational equity issues have combined to heighten calls for improved education for all students. Systemic reform calls for education to be reconceptualized from the ground up, beginning with the nature of teaching and learning, educational relationships, and school-community relationships. One of the assumptions made by…

This booklet comprises the seventh grade component of a series of curriculum guides on fire and burn prevention. Designed to meet the age-specific needs of seventh grade students, its objectives include: (1) practicing responsible decision-making regarding fire and burn hazards, including peer pressure related to fire risks; and (2) practicing…

The 1988 School Reform Act (Illinois PA 85-1418) mandated that Chicago's public schools be managed locally by school-based management councils. Principals in Chicago public schools work with their local school councils (LSCs) to effect plans concerning school management, budgeting, school improvement, staffing, and curricular concerns. This report…

This booklet is intended for teachers, nursery nurses, health visitors, librarians, preschool workers, and parents, and provides practical ideas about working with parents, ideas which have been developed and tried out in the Sheffield Early Literacy Development Project. Suggestions include ways for parents to model, provide opportunities, and…

Developing and pursuing a "vision" for school success is a crucial part of effective educational leadership. This document explores theoretical models of vision for school success and leadership forces in education; discusses principals as visionary leaders; offers practical advice on developing, implementing, and maintaining a vision for one's…

To meet new needs, society has raised its requirements with respect to basic education and redefined illiteracy. A 1989 survey found that 38 percent of the Canadian adult population have reading problems. Illiteracy is a social problem involving the entire community. The social cost is counted by the millions prevented from exercising their rights…

This practicum report describes a program in which strategies for improving self-managing behavior skills of second graders were designed and implemented. The goals of the Self-Management and Responsibility Training (SMART) Program were to improve students' behavior and encourage development of students' critical thinking skills. The four basic…

This report is the result of an investigation by the New York State Commission on Quality of Care for the Mentally Disabled of the Bernard Fineson Developmental Center's policies and practices concerning sexual incidents among residents. It also raises broader issues about the meaning of consent when sexual activity involves persons with severe or…

Responsive facilitation is an interactive orientation to formal learning that requires an individual to assume a variety of roles and to be comfortable with diverse methodologies. The major roles assumed are coach, consultant, critic, and counselor. As illustrated by the redesign of an introductory computer science course, these practices can be…

The school district decentralization process is described in this guidebook, which focuses on the administrator's role in implementation. Three chapters are organized around the three phases of decentralization--exploration, trial, and commitment. Each phase is examined in terms of the real-life experiences of administrators and other…

This document consists of a packet of materials published in December 1990 and designed to assist citizens in forming study circles to discuss the crisis in the Persian Gulf. The resources are designed to be nonpartisan, fair, and balanced, and try to make the strongest possible case for four different options, reflecting a broad range of…

This collection of 16 reports asserts that at-risk students are best served by extensive modifications of schools, or "restructuring." Successful restructuring must include a comprehensive approach to changing the educational environment and have a critical impact on students and teachers, the largest of the school constituencies. Section 1,…

The strengths and weaknesses of school-business partnerships and the need for more corporate assertiveness in the public policy area are the subjects of this paper, which is an adaption of a speech given on November 1987 to the St. Paul, Minnesota Compact Conference. The business community has two contrasting views of public education. One view is…