Describes an approach to facilitating middle school reform that includes teachers in a constructivist learning environment where they function as active learners who explore contradictions and create their own solutions to real problems. Considers implications for teacher inservice education, and describes the case of one middle school teacher.…

American's aging schools need replacing. New schools should enhance teaching and learning and accommodate the needs of all learners; serve as community centers; involve all stakeholders in the planning process; provide for health, safety, and security; make effective use of all available resources; and be adaptable to changing needs. Examples of…

The president of California State University, Northridge, at the time of the 1994 earthquake reflects on the decisions she made following the disaster, concluding that leadership in such a crisis is dependent on an individual's value system and that leadership is seen in performance, not position. Specific examples are discussed, including…

The Lancaster County (Pennsylvania) public library, which receives many school districts' interlibrary loan requests, experienced a 100% increase in periodical article requests. Working cooperatively, school and public librarians developed a LSCA Title II grant to study magazine usage to make cost-effective decisions about improving timely access…

Three models of strategic management for academic health centers are detailed: the traditional model, which will become rare; a revised traditional model that offers "boutique" clinical services, biomedical research, and medical education; and the academic services model, focusing on competitive primary and secondary clinical services, health…

Examines whether cognitive/behavioral interventions that produced immediate changes in AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and intentions for coping with AIDS-risk situations among delinquents and abused adolescents can produce long-term benefits assessed at 9-12 months follow-up. One intervention model, discussion groups, produced a long-term…

Examination of the role of parental involvement in the school restructuring process in three Alberta (Canada) elementary schools reveals that the roles and responsibilities of parents must be clarified, that criteria are needed for measuring success in relation to parental involvement, and that participants need support while they struggle to…

Summarizes the "overlapping spheres of influence" theory of educational partnerships and presents a framework of six major types of involvement in schools to provide a context for other articles in this issue. Also summarizes results of some studies by the Center on Families, Communities, Schools, and Children's Learning. (SLD)

Evaluated the West Alabama Learning Coalition, a rural, multi-institutional organization, as perceived by member professionals in schools, universities, community colleges, businesses, and social-service agencies. Respondents viewed the coalition as a dynamic, organic, and creative entity fostering synergy, shared leadership, and…

Overviews the 20-year history of the English Composition Board at the University of Michigan, an independent unit directed by a policy board until it was effectively ended by being placed under the English Department in 1997. Describes its early cooperative and later collaborative approach to management style. Argues efforts to institutionalize…

Too often citizenship education in schools is sterile and removed from real issues--it is designed to teach about democracy, not practice it. Classroom practices are less important than school culture and classroom climate. Students need to see and experience democracy in their schools; teacher education programs, educational systems, and high…

Describes differences between on-campus and distance learners by knowledge, skills, and abilities based on a comparative study of doctoral students at Texas A&M University. Highlights include student perceptions of their competencies; and the use of competency models as assessment tools for strategic decision making and development of courses…

Conducted observations in urban and suburban schools, arguing that critical theorists should more closely examine differential structural constraints on pedagogical choice. Urban teachers made pedagogic choices that reinforced social hierarchies (partly to help students manage urban environmental risks). Changing the role of power in urban public…

The college selection process is a learning experience and a stressful time. One high achieving student describes being recruited by colleges with the promise of scholarships. She recounts the process of choosing the right school, realizing along the way that her college years could not only determine her occupation, but where she might live, and…

Discusses a study that examines department chairs' beliefs about the role of faculty in departmental governance and the characteristics of an ideal governance structure. Concludes that faculty's key role is helping clarify the administrators' responsibilities, and that faculty members should be rewarded for their participation and empowered to…