School bashing has been a national pastime for years. Government officials and business leaders demoralize teachers and administrators carrying out improvement efforts by telling them how poorly they are doing. Although many educators truly believe in a national desire to improve education, there is no national will to compensate and empower…

Under school-based management, principals are there to help staff members make the best possible decisions. The principal's job involves six discernable roles: (1) facilitator; (2) trainer; (3) expert adviser; (4) resource coordinator; (5) communicator; and (6) advocate. (MLF)

Paul Norton Elementary School in Bettendorf, Iowa, was one of 27 schools chosen to participate in the NEA's Mastery in Learning Network project to empower teachers through site-based management. This article describes the school's ongoing progress at pursuing community-school partnerships, creative fund raising, and time management. (MLH)

Drawing on specific examples in elementary school classrooms and flying instruction analogies, this article shows how teachers can creatively combine tenets of both holistic and direct approaches to reading instruction. Students are more likely to use reading and writing effectively when teachers themselves are empowered to select intelligently…

Advocates empowering students to help them take control of their lives. Provides specific ideas on how educators can facilitate this process. Uses concepts from humanistic education, group dynamics, Quaker thought and action, and experiential programing. (KS)

Institutionally empowered principals provide teachers with decision-making possibilities and use this empowerment to benefit the exchange between teacher and principal. Cultural empowerment requires even more effort. Teachers and principals must work together on the school's institutional and cultural climate by using dialogue and critique.…

The Christoffel-Blindenmission helps support 26 schools, centers, and rehabilitation programs for individuals with visual impairments in South America. This article discusses the organization's limited use of foreign specialists to discourage overdependency on the agency and to encourage local personnel to establish their own programs. (Author/JDD)

Although there is no lack of interest in social action among children, educators often lack necessary skills and experience. Teaching citizenship involvement requires not a new curriculum, but extension of a subject into real life. To succeed, teachers must grasp four concepts (problem, process, products, and presentation) hinging on students'…

A health promotion program in the Mississippi Delta used an empowerment approach based on community competence factors: participation, commitment, self-other awareness, articulateness, conflict containment, social relations, participatory decision making, and social support. After one year, community competence moved from internal social…

In the holosphere model of empowerment for health promotion, five spheres are linked: personal care, small group development, community organization, coalition building and advocacy, and political action. The model presumes that professionals and institutions are capable of change and of sharing power. (SK)

Reviews the ethical concept of individual freedom as it might be applied to theater education. Argues that ethical decisions should be examined with an understanding of the basic principles of ethics. Suggests that understanding ethical concepts can help theater educators follow the arguments and justify the professional decisions they make. (RS)

A teacher describes the self-management process she used in an organizational behavior course: empowering students, organizing self-managed work teams, investigating participative management, and enabling students to take on group management responsibilities. (SK)

Defines the concept of self-determination and discusses the importance of family involvement in affecting the development and expression of self-determination in adolescents with autism and other developmental disabilities. Strategies to promote and support parental involvement in self-determination instruction are discussed. (Author/CR)

The effect of a program to develop knowledge and skills for self-determination in adolescents with autism was examined through students' in-class contributions and through pre-post interviews with 23 adolescents and parents. Following the program, students initiated more discussion and used a number of skills and concepts in other settings.…

Describes how professors can guide and encourage graduate students to write for publication, thereby empowering students as professional practitioners and reformers in their fields. Teachers can take steps to create an environment of professional scholarship within their classes. Demystifying writing for publication reinforces class content and…