Designed to help principals in rural and small schools, this volume contains 29 articles under the three broad headings of new possibilities in everyday practice, applications of recent research, and initiatives to help schools and communities grow. The editors' introduction notes the challenges facing small school administrators, the problems…

The characteristics of a proposed basic skills instructional program that would involve all staff in a junior high school are described in this report. Basic skills are defined as ideas needed throughout life. Planned for the 1982-83 school year, the program is aimed at creating an environment for effective school change. Activities in seven…

In this report of a working conference, experts in the teacher education field considered the adequacy of current research on teaching practices and obstacles in the implementation of changes based on research findings. In "How Useful Are the Findings from the Research on Teaching," Jane A. Stallings discussed findings from research on teaching…

Critical areas of undergraduate education are discussed, and creative suggestions for maintaining excellence in Pennsylvania education are offered by the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education (SCUE) at the University of Pennsylvania. Specific topics include: the curriculum, advising, teaching, residential life, and admissions. The…

A workshop was used as a long-term planning method by a small, rural state college in Montana to promote recruitment and service to nontraditional students (adults 25 years old or older). The first step was the review of national trends and conditions within the state and college by a committee composed of administrators, faculty, and…

The underrepresentation of minority groups in graduate and professional education in New York State and approaches to address this problem are discussed. Components include: limited awareness of professional career options among minority students; inadequate counseling at important stages of education; lack of minority professional role models;…

A collection of program ideas are presented that were nominated by their institutions in the 1983 competition for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities' G. Theodore Mitau Award for Innovation and Change in Higher Education. The programs demonstrate creative approaches to such academic/administrative concerns as student access…

Student attrition rates and retention efforts in the California State University and Colleges (CSUC) are summarized to assist policymakers and planners. Extensive supplementary materials are also provided, including four questionnaires, campus statistics, and worksheets for predicting withdrawal. Summaries for the 19 campuses of CSUC provide an…

The Rural Education Program (REP) is funded to develop a strategy--the Rural Futures Development (RFD) Strategy--that encourages local initiative and participation in educational change. The strategy was installed in the San Juan School District in southeastern Utah (Site "A") from August 1974 to June 1976 and represented the first…

Psychological research has shown that the meaning people make of their experience is what leads to their learning and development. In addition, the location of human activity has an impact on its meaning. Physical location is not the only component of the context in which afterschool activities take place. Examples in this article illustrate that…

One of a set of twelve documents describing the Career Planning Support System (CPSS) and its use, this guide is designed to help the CPSS coordinator become familiar with CPSS and his or her role. (The Career Planning Support System is a comprehensive guidance program management system which (1) provides techniques to improve a high school's…

This draft statement outlines the issues to be discussed at a series of invitational conferences to consider policies and proposals regarding youth education and employment in New York State. It consists of three sections. In section 1 a general description of the problem of youth unemployment is provided. Section 2 examines a framework for action…

Responding to research indicating that more concentrated efforts and innovative approaches are needed to change the negative teacher and student attitudes toward the disabled in mainstreamed classrooms, the pilot program described in this paper was designed to foster communication between the regular classroom teacher and the special education…

The development of a model network for team leadership by the University of Akron and community agencies is described. The major program objectives were to increase understanding of: interpersonal and intragroup dynamics; organizational development and collaborative planned change; and issues at the local, regional, and national levels that relate…

The involvement of state agencies in program discontinuance in higher education was studied, based on the responses of 46 agencies. It was found that 32 state agencies were actively involved in recommending, initiating, or enforcing actual discontinuances. The following eight categories of obstacles to program discontinuance were identified: legal…