Multiculturalism is vital in a society constructed on coalitions whose members seek common ground. The educational system must be the forum for providing the opportunity to value diversity. Selected reviews are presented of six books on multicultural education and society. (SLD)

When preparing middle-level students for the information Age, educators must consider staff-development needs in the areas of computer technology and portfolio design; classroom restructuring for project-based curriculum; integrated subject disciplines; and alignment of the portfolio approach to school, district, state, and parental expectations…

Teachers need focused staff development to improve content knowledge and pedagogy for specific subject areas. An interview with Lee Shulman, professor of education, discusses advantages of content-specific development, noting the important role of case studies and the changes necessary for helping teachers become lifelong students of content and…

Meeting teachers' differing training needs calls for an assortment of staff development strategies to be selected by the teachers themselves. Choices should include individualized education plans, short-term sabbaticals, substitute-teacher teams, teachers as instructors, peer coaching, teacher exchanges, released time, summer workshops, weekend…

Maintains that staff guidance in early childhood and child care programs can be optimized when it functions within the guidelines of developmentally appropriate practices in regards to staff age, stage appropriateness, and individual appropriateness. Differences in individual staff temperament and cognitive styles are considered. (BB)

These guidelines for staff development programs present four components to guide the purposes, distribution, content, and structure and organization of staff development for middle-grades educators. Claims that the guidelines, if implemented, could alter knowledge and practices of middle grades educators to improve early adolescents' learning and…

The article reviews the history of staff development in general, discusses characteristics, problems, and limitations of the present, and examines the future, noting philosophical issues affecting the future of the National Staff Development Council. (SM)

Describes the experiences with collaborative partnership, of a novice elementary teacher who was teaching writing and a university researcher, arguing for the intentional collaboration of such partners as a form of staff development. The article lists benefits of collaborative inquiry and presents guidelines for developing collaborative…

Describes a staff development program designed to assist financial aid personnel in handling interpersonal difficulties encountered in the workplace. Program phases include a large group outreach workshop, a customized inservice for financial aid, and short-term counseling. Discusses effectiveness of program as well as connection to other student…

"International Programming Issues for Extension Education" (Rosson, Sanders) describes a survey of extension personnel identifying global competition and agriculture as a key issue. "Expanding Our Horizons Internationally" (Richardson, Woods) discusses North Carolina Extension's staff development on global issues. In…

This article develops two perspectives on the Regular Education Initiative, the first drawing on two decades of research and practice to document and discuss understandings about school improvement. The second draws on the current movement to restructure schools. A reformist partnership between classroom teachers and special education is proposed.…

Examines the change in direction from materials development to staff development at the Centre for Developing English Language Teaching, Ain Shams University. Staff development was found to be a necessary step to enhancing the impact of a curriculum change. (21 references) (GLR)

Examines the concept of empowerment as a movement to foster the democratization of the workplace and staff development. Empowerment versus participative management, the relationship of empowerment to organizational theory, factors influencing empowerment in organizations, and possible consequences of successful empowerment for employees and…

"Foreword" (Handy); "Creda's Vocational Training Scheme" (Bradley); "IBM: Learning for Life" (Stevenson); "Personal Development at Sainsbury's" (Deaves); "Ford Employee Development and Assistance Programmes" (Moore); "Hotpoint North Wales" (Jones); "Derbyshire Employee Development…

Examines some popular models of peer observation and their potential drawbacks and discusses the implementation of a more active and reflective model, where the focus is less on the observed and more on the active self-development of the observer. Relevance to staff development is also considered. (LRW)