This book helps school administrators redesign the professional development model to better reflect the relevant issues and realities of today's schools. Using the metaphor of architecture, the book outlines innovative ways to create and implement such a transformation and highlights the rationale behind why these changes are so crucial. It also…

Sailing expeditions have played an important role in adventure provision for young people in Great Britain over many years. Adventure experiences under sail can achieve social and personal development goals similar to those of land-based adventure education programs. In addition, participants can earn certification in sailing skills. Most voyages…

This lesson plan uses students' interest in sports to teach good citizenship. With its focus on rules, responsibility, conflict resolution, and teamwork, the unit emphasizes the development of critical thinking, decision-making, and citizenship skills in young people. This lesson plan is part of a series of fully prepared, interactive classroom…

Utilization of work teams is now wide spread in all types of organizations throughout the world. However, an understanding of the important factors common to high performance teams is rare. The purpose of this content analysis is to explore the literature and propose findings related to high performance teams. These include definition and types,…

Designed for inservice and preservice training, this manual provides information about the ways a traumatic brain injury (TBI) can affect a student's functioning and the ways an educator can intervene to improve the student's chances of academic and social success. The first part of the manual is a trainer's manual and the second part is a…

This paper describes a process by which developing or established teams can create a clear and common understanding of issues concerning team purpose, team approach, performance goals, role clarity, and mutual accountability. The major components of this process--Purpose, Approach, Goals, and Everyone mutually accountable--form the acronym…

School counselors' duties have multiplied over the years, requiring counselors to be involved with nearly every aspect of school operation. Ways in which paraprofessionals can help school counselors meet these demands are described in this paper. Counselors must provide crisis intervention, group and individual counseling, classroom guidance,…

This article shows the extent to which pupils borrow information from one another. In the course of classroom observations, learning in groups appeared to be polyphonic and was based upon the ideas of others. Learning through plagiarism, however, must be interpreted not as negative interdependence, but as a way for children to construct new…

This article includes the contents of a paper presented at the 1999 National Staff Development Conference, then summarizes data collected from attendees of that conference session in response to a written survey distributed and completed during the session. The conference session explained that paraeducators require training, but there is concern…

Laptops for students, increased teamwork and group interaction, and teaching as a facilitator of active learning have successfully converged in the classrooms of Northern Michigan University. This paper offers practical guidelines for integration strategies, theory, and outcomes assessments, based on a study undertaken for the 1999-2000 academic…

This report details a study designed to test the sustainability of a school-based Collaborative Action Team (CAT) process, which attempted to address the need to enhance family and community involvement in education and to be self-sustaining over time. Based in communities across five Southwestern states, the intervention tested the sustainability…

This manual was designed to assist museums in becoming accessible to all individuals, including people with disabilities, in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act 1990 (ADA). Following an introduction that addresses museum attendance, accessibility, universal design, and different types of disabilities, chapter 1, "ADA Basics…

This conference paper discusses the results of a study on the effectiveness of Florida's multidisciplinary Family Service Planning Teams (FSPT). The FSPTs were developed to create holistic service plans to enable children with emotional disabilities to live in the community and be successful in school. The FSPTs have become the focus of service…

This conference paper discusses the results of a study that investigated the validity of the Family-Centered Behavior Scale (FCBS) and its companion tool, the FCBS-Importance. On the FCBS, parents of children with special needs rate how often a professional with whom they work performs certain family-centered behaviors. On the FCBS-Importance,…

This action research study describes the perceptions of third through fifth grade classroom teachers and special services teachers who provided services to students needing special modifications in their instruction or interventions in order to succeed in regular classrooms. Participants indicated their level of agreement with 14 questions on a…