This booklet discusses the collective power of collaboration among the three agencies that compose the Corporation for National Service (AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America, and the National Senior Service Corps) and introduces the reader to a process of collaboration intended to strengthen existing services and to create new and higher-quality…

This report summarizes 48 states' current policies on the participation of students with disabilities in large-scale assessments and the accommodations noted in state policies as available for those students. In developing the summary, changes in state assessment policies were also checked. Charts in the report provide information on presentation…

Efforts to change the role of principals over the past 30 years typically reflect a leader-centrist perspective of schools illustrated by the metaphors of a marching band or the slightly less hierarchical classical orchestra. In these conceptual systems, policy (score) is generated (composed) by policymaking bodies (composers) with principals…

This book demonstrates how classroom teachers can use cooperative learning techniques for lesson planning and classroom management. It emphasizes that cooperation among students is powerful, and it notes that just because students are in a group does not mean that they are cooperating. Part 1, "Getting Started with Cooperative Learning," includes…

This report discusses the outcomes of a study that investigated the effects of modifications to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1996 assessment designed to encourage the participation of more students with disabilities. Modifications included revising the inclusion criteria with the intention of making them clearer, more…

This document is designed to help facilitators with the formation and development of effective teams of people who have no previous history as a team and no training in group processes. Part 1 provides a narrative explanation of the stages of group development (investing in membership, forming attachments to subgroups, confronting/debating issues,…

This paper summarizes the first 2 years of a school improvement effort in a low-performing rural school district in southern Virginia that involved developing a balanced K-12 curriculum aligned with the state's standards of learning. Project evaluation focused on changes in the school environment and in teaching and learning that resulted from the…

This guide focuses on moderating non-pedagogical online conferences that use World Wide Web-based conferencing software, whether synchronous or asynchronous. The first section provides information on getting ready and discusses features and advantages of synchronous and asynchronous systems. The second section focuses on getting started, including…

This study investigated whether gender differences exist in the factors thought to influence a person's desire to pursue higher education. A 152-item multiple choice questionnaire, completed by 346 students enrolled at a large university during 1998, was the source of the data. The independent variable was gender; dependent variables were…

Comparison of the thinking styles of 21 corporate chief executive officers (CEO's) and 23 school superintendents from across the United States reveals CEO's as right-brain oriented (innovative, intuitive), and superintendents as left-brain oriented (logical, rational). Author suggests both groups strive for "whole-brained thinking," balancing both…

Provided are examples of science/society scenarios for biology, chemistry, and physics classes, as well as those of an interdisciplinary nature. These scenarios present some social or ethical problems related to the discipline and pose questions for student discussions. (Includes description of a project involved in developing/piloting such…

A model for evaluation of ongoing college programs is presented that integrates six instruments for assessing constituent groups' satisfactions or dissatisfactions: a current student satisfaction survey, graduate survey, administrators' perception survey, transfer reason survey, questionnaire on the program's strengths and weaknesses and…

The Gateway Program at Temple University helps equip working adults to develop their own design for living, engage in educational planning in a context of accelerating societal change, and be more effective in all areas of their lives. The program uses ongoing mentoring, courses and workshops, certification, and faculty development. (Author/MSE)

Describes a group run by vocational rehabilitation and community mental health professionals for "no-movement clients". Discusses techniques focusing on changing the no-movement characteristics of the clients including commitment building, conflict resolution, goal setting, reinforcement of self-confidence, and job seeking skills. (RC)

Today's leaders face a world dramatically different from that of the previous generation. Thus, they cannot rely on experience from the past, but need to anticipate future needs and circumstances and to develop more flexible organizations to achieve the transformation from an industrial to a communication era. (WD)