In 1987, Congress directed each of the regional educational laboratories to develop a "rural initiative." Beginning in 1991, the U.S. Department of Education directed that the laboratories devote 25% of their effort to helping rural schools by fostering innovative rural education programs that promise to improve instruction, and by…

This paper discusses how strengthening connections between the school and its community can help to improve a school's problem solving capacity. The paper is based on data collected by the Documentation and Technical Assistance Project of the Center for New Schools (Chicago, Illinois), from observation of nine school sites which were involved in…

This paper describes experiences of the Documentation and Technical Assistance Project (Chicago, Illinois) in helping schools to improve their problem solving capacities through the use of cognitive frameworks (shared meanings that people use to interpret their world). The paper discusses two projects that illustrate how shared frameworks have…

The contributions that business and industry can make to help colleges and universities maintain high standards of teaching, scholarship, and research are considered. Four recent studies that address the deterioration in educational standards are noted, and the problems that confront colleges and universities are identified. It is suggested that…

The impact of the School Improvement Through Instructional Process (SITIP) program in Maryland schools was studied. The program encouraged application of research on planned change to implement one or more of four instructional models: Active Teaching, Mastery Learning, Student Team Learning, and Teaching Variables of "content" and…

Based on interviews of 68 key administrators, a survey questionnaire given to 345 principals and districtwide administrators, and a shortened questionnaire given to 177 teachers in 68 New Jersey and Pennsylvania school districts in 1981, this study examines how educators seek assistance to strengthen educational programs and promote change.…

Views of academic deans at 15 private Minnesota colleges concerning assessment were surveyed. About half of the colleges experienced some but not great pressure for assessment from their external environment while the remaining had felt essentially no pressure. The deans identified obstacles to assessment, including fears about possible intrusion…

In Spring 1983, 124 second semester freshmen at the University of Maryland at College Park whose first semester grade point averages were below minimum requirements for graduation participated in a diagnostic and prescriptive interview program. Participants met with a counseling center staff person to help students first to identify the causes of…

A national sample of public school districts was surveyed to determine high school graduation requirements existing in the 1981-82 and 1984-85 school years. Expectations for 1987-88 were also surveyed. The Office of Educational Research and Improvement's Center for Statistics conducted the survey through its Fast Response Survey System. School…

A model is presented for preparing teachers as "artists of the classroom" in centers referred to as "institutes of the teaching arts." In the model, the development of four fundamental qualities in all preservice students of the teaching arts are stressed: (1) a pridefully creative outlook on the work of teaching; (2) an understanding of the…

This manual was written for the Wisconsin Program for the Renewal and Improvement of Secondary Education (WRISE) to help schools develop their own capability for systematically improving their educative processes from year to year, using existing resources. The program, which has been tested and found effective, indicates general procedures,…

THE FOLLOWING IS THE FULL TEXT OF THIS DOCUMENT: Recognition for special effort and achievement has been noted as a component of effective schools. Schools in the Moreland School District have effectively improved standards of discipline and achievement by providing forty-six different ways for children to receive positive recognition. Good…

The proceedings of the 1982 annual meeting of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, which focused on interdependence in education, are presented. Four papers on interdependence as well as information on the business meeting of the Association are included. Gordon M. Ambach in "Interdependence and Education" considers…

Based on the comprehensive library self-study method developed by the Association of Research Libraries' (ARL) Office of Management Studies (OMS) and first used as the Management Review and Analysis Project (MRAP), this resource notebook presents surveys and diagnostic aids, OMS self-study reports, and ARL member library documents related to…

This volume reports the results of an extensive study of state teacher policies and programs. It is based on the idea that the extraordinary level of state activity in recent years, if coupled with the interests and aspirations of teachers themselves, can be the foundation for a renewal of the teaching profession. Section 1 describes innovative…