Influencing external forces that mold the educational environment through political action can be a rewarding activity for principals. In this way, educators can become part of the solution in what the author calls this "frighteningly apocalyptic world." (Editor)

Productivity can be exciting and personally rewarding. Work habits can be changed to make the hours worked be more effective. (Author/MLF)

Stresses the advantages of utilizing community members to develop a positive public relations image rather than simply as advisory groups in solving educational problems. (Author/RK)

Despite the seemingly endless rules concerning them, commas have only two functions: they either separate or set off. (Author)

Discusses some common pitfalls in problem-solving and outlines three basic approaches to successfully identifying problems and their causes. (Available from Business Horizons, School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47401; $2.50, single copy) (Author/JG)

Discusses the need for school board policies and provides an outline of typical categories that should be covered by policies. (IRT)

Presents guidelines for the evaluation of instructional materials beginning with the first phases of development and continuing until they are finally replaced. (JY)

Spurred by the "No Child Left Behind Act" of 2001, virtually every educational reform program now includes an accountability component that requires sound data collection and reporting. Improving data quality has thus emerged as a high priority for educators and policymakers across the country. The list of programs for which data quality…

This yearbook addresses research on teacher induction and is designed to provide teachers and teacher educators with current research and practical guidelines for conceptualizing and implementing research. The conceptual framework of the yearbook is based on a triadic definition of scholarship: the production of knowledge, the interpretation and…

Ed McCrea, former executive director of North American Association for Environmental Education (NAEE), calls the development of the environmental education guidelines the single most important event that has occurred in the field of environmental education in the last decade. For the first time in its history, environmental education has a set of…

This four-part manual assists child care providers working in day care centers, Head Start Centers, or nursery schools to design the physical space of both indoor and outdoor settings for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and younger school-aged children. Part 1 stresses the importance of the physical environment in the child care setting. Part 2…

In 2001 the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) put forth guidelines for the ethical treatment of students during research in composition studies, and several scholars have voiced their fears and opinions. This paper cautions that the Guidelines' reliance on Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) to protect students may unintentionally…

How early is too early? As testing has grown more widespread in recent decades, important issues have arisen concerning how to ensure that early childhood testing is used appropriately and with positive educational benefits. Actually, this kind of testing has been happening for a long time. Testing young children became a frequent practice when…

In an effort to depoliticize design-build contracts, the Commonwealth of Virginia created a management review board to determine whether a locality should be authorized to use a design-build contract in lieu of competitive sealed bidding. This paper explains that process. In order to employ a design-build contract for a specific construction…