Focuses on research about application of text-to-speech systems in diagnosing and remediating word recognition, vocabulary knowledge, and comprehension disabilities. As school psychologists move toward a consultative model of service delivery, they need to know about technology such as speech synthesizers, digitizers, optical-character-recognition…

English-as-a-Second-Language practitioners who work as consultants view the flexibility of nonpermanent employment status positively. However, organizations tend to treat such staff in traditional needs, suggesting a need to redefine the role of flexible trainers in more opportunistic, value-added directions. (Author/SK)

There are usually three reasons for hiring consultants: to inspire or motivate staff, to provide staff with new ideas, or to glean information from research and evaluation studies to make informed decisions and changes. To benefit from hiring consultants, administrators should know their speakers, consider timing, get their money's worth, verify…

Site visits for prospective principals raise serious problems. Members of school-based selection panel receive minimal training and can disrupt atmosphere of candidate's school. Confidentiality in job search wanes. A better way to hire building administrators is to employ consultants to help with search. After settling on one or more candidates,…

Examines the involvement of consultants from the nonprofit National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) in the long-term planning of public college systems, including those of West Virginia, Louisiana, Nebraska, Texas, and Kentucky. Traces the development of NCHEMS from its establishment in 1969 as a federally supported…

Before contracting with a technology consultant, school administrators must ponder their reasons for collaborating. Consultants should possess a generalist, problem-solving orientation; knowledge of current education research and programs; access to higher education departments; knowledge of educational technology and research methodologies;…

Describes how Project Jason, an elite panel of academics that has advised the Defense Department on research for 43 years, negotiated its way past a canceled contract. (EV)

Consultant learning turns the management classroom into a laboratory for free enterprise. Students determine their own grades by earning consulting fees for completing projects they design and propose. Project work becomes a portfolio for future employment. (Contains 15 references.) (SK)

The traditional governance culture in which most school boards function contributes to role confusion. Most board policies focus more on operational concerns than on governance. Several Colorado boards have applied John Carver's Policy Governance model to define their parameters. A sidebar summarizes (positive) results of two superintendency…

Advocates hiring more middle-school and high-school reading specialists to improve student reading and writing skills. Describes several school districts' use of reading specialists. (PKP)

Address the development of a literature review that summarizes what educators know about the role of the reading specialist and the various roles that reading specialists assume. Examines journals in the field of reading research and instruction, government documents, technical reports, and ERIC documents that related to the role of the reading…

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the preferences of supervisors and supervisees for 4 styles of counselor supervision and the perceived frequency of use of the 4 styles during a 10-week supervision experience. The styles are labeled directive teacher, supportive teacher, counselor, and consultant. Data collected using 90 doctoral…

This paper looks critically at the government's year 2000 initiative to make school governors responsible for headteacher performance management (HTPM). A case study, carried out at John Wiseman Community Primary School by the author as an insider-researcher, is augmented by questionnaire and interview data from other institutions. Critical…

Assessments of consultants, clients, and consumer satisfaction were used to examine the effects of a competency-based consultation training program conducted over 4 years. Using a multiple-baseline framework to assess training effects on consultants and single-case study designs to evaluate changes in client behavior, a number of significant…

In this study, 18 teachers and 32 of their students who had reading difficulties were randomly assigned to one of two assessment conditions. In the functional assessment condition, consultants identified functional relationships among environmental events and targeted reading behaviors to develop an intervention plan. In the empiric condition,…