This paper identifies four common dilemmas that educators face across the globe: (1) meeting political demands for increased effectiveness and productivity; (2) providing education in ways that are consistent with the realities of diversity; (3) maintaining a focus on moral and ethical practice; and (4) determining the proper balance between…

Although most efforts to improve schools through integration of academic and vocational education recognize the need for staff development, most staff development efforts fall short. The reasons these efforts often do not succeed include the following: teachers have little authority to make decisions about the improvement process; the programs do…

This publication describes Venture Capital grants, which are awarded to Ohio schools for school-improvement efforts. Originating in the business sector, the concept of Venture Capital represented corporate earning or individual savings invested in a new or fresh enterprise. The grants are designed to be long-term, evolving efforts focused on a…

This book synthesizes research findings on principal effectiveness, viewing the principal as a key factor in ensuring school effectiveness and productivity. Methodology includes an extensive literature review, participation and observation grounded in theory, and pragmatic responses to conditions and issues. Chapter 1 presents an overview of…

In 1989 the Texas Alliance for Science, Technology and Mathematics Education began placing teachers of all levels at industry sites as part of its Texas Teacher Internship Program. In 1995, 15 teachers interned at 11 sites. Each teacher was required to develop a curriculum implementation plan which was to illustrate how they would translate the…

This paper describes two case studies that assessed the effects of staff training in schools participating in the accelerated schools model (Levin 1990). The model stresses the importance of total school-community involvement and shared decision making during all stages of the acceleration process. The two schools included a middle school (grades…

This paper presents findings of a study that verified the relationship between the professional isolation of school principals and their performance at work. A survey of all principals in a suburban area of Quebec (n=166) elicited a 70 percent response rate. The principals completed the UCLA Loneliness Scale and Self-Appraisal Instrument for…

In determining the scope of online delivery of programs currently being developed within the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne (Australia), a number of factors have been involved. Until recently, the traditional research focus at the University of Melbourne translated into little or scattered interest in developing programs for…

The overall theme of the round-table discussions at a conference of the Canadian Council of Teachers of German (CCTG) was the cooperation of regional teacher associations and creation of a professional development network. An introductory section describes the project through which the round-table discussions were organized, the structure of the…

This paper examines the development and success of a pilot teacher training program in Thailand. The 1993-1994 long-distance, English teacher, secondary education pilot program was an inexpensive, effective model that could be used throughout the country and that would benefit teachers who are not able to take advantage of conventional inservice…

This document reports on the evaluation study of the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology (FCCSET) 1993 Summer Institutes that provided opportunities for teachers from around the country to participate in hands-on education programs in areas such as environmental and ecological studies, material science, space…

The findings reported in this paper are taken from the third phase of a multi-level examination of science and mathematics education reform in Michigan supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and known as the Michigan Statewide Systemic Initiative (MSSI). The third phase of the study seeks to learn what progress Michigan's teachers have…

This document summarizes presentations from the 1996 Child Care Aware conference, which celebrated successful child care innovations, evaluated new strategies in family child care professional development and consumer education, and posed challenging issues for the future in these areas, especially as they relate to low-income families. Section 1,…

Coaching entails helping executives one on one to learn and to make the most of that learning. Because these encounters involve executives in different stages of their careers and in varied settings, coaching represents a continuum of roles. Consultants typically play four roles in working with chief executives, boards, and senior managers of…

A project was undertaken to design an information dissemination newsletter to meet the professional development needs of Pennsylvania's adult basic and literacy education (ABLE) practitioners. It was decided that an 8- to 10-page-long newsletter would be produced for 5 months that included information/articles from as many sources as could be…