Considers the use of Total Quality Management (TQM) tools by library managers to develop quality relationships between staff and customers. Topics include building a shared vision, putting the needs of customers before organizational politics, cooperation between levels of employees, communication, teamwork, trust, redesigning processes and…

Considers the implications of community connections by examining a coalition developed by the Pekin Public Library (Illinois): the Pekin Intergenerational Network (PIN). Highlights include recognizing the need for coalitions; developing a team; and evaluating the coalition's progress. (AEF)

This article discusses how a first-grade inclusive classroom immersed students in multiple sign systems to foster literacy, including art, drama, and music, science, and movement activities. The second part profiles a boy with learning difficulties and what was learned about him in an attempt to take an aesthetic stance toward assessment.…

Employs observations and interviews to explore ways four basketball teams used players' bodies to create a plural self, transforming individuals into interconnected, deindividualized members. Raises the possibility that for many athletes this temporarily realized plural self continues as a possible self and invites the development of certain…

This article describes the development of a preservice program at the University of Florida to prepare teachers for inclusive education. Emphasis is on the team building experience of two elementary teacher educators and two special education teacher educators; the challenges; and the importance of establishing social relationships, persisting…

Analyzes two limitations associated with cooperative learning: how to evaluate the teamwork skills that students demonstrate during group work, and how to provide tasks that enable students to practice these teamwork skills. Discusses a new model of learning and instruction called Collaboration-Integration Theory (CIT), which ensures that students…

General education teachers serving on teams that support children with developmental concerns in schools were surveyed about attitudes concerning teamwork. Central themes emerged relative to perception about benefits, limitations, and supports. Respondent recommendations for improvement of teamwork related to management, organization, and…

The author articulates how she helped create learning through a center for teaching and learning and other strategies.

This exploratory study addresses two issues: (1) how firms select applicants for positions in international management and, subsequently, evaluate the performance of international business education in Taiwan; and (2) what the important skills for international management professionals are, and how well university graduates are equipped with these…

This article sets out a rationale and provides a model for family work by group care practitioners. In doing so it points out that practitioners will need to avoid parent blaming attitudes and become family-centered rather than simply child-focused. Thus the critical issues to be addressed are how to ensure that a group care program is from an…

As offerings of online courses, programs, and degrees continue to increase, universities are grappling for ways to assess and assure quality. The quality and quantity of interaction between faculty and students and among students constitutes a significant component of the definition of quality for any course, whether online or face-to-face. It…

To refocus its professional development plan, Chaska Middle School East (Minnesota) looked at where student achievement was lagging. Using the Killion back-mapping model, a student-focused, data-driven, multi-step process by which teachers gather and study student data to determine where professional growth, development, or training is most…

This study is intended as a resource and a tool for those involved in the evaluation, monitoring, or self-review of school management teams. The information presented is based on first-hand experiences of n = 838 elementary and middle school teachers from 55 schools who were directly involved with the implementation and operations of school…

In this case study, I have examined teachers' use of co-teaching models to support students with learning disabilities in an inclusive elementary classroom. Co-teachers progressed from the developmental stage of collegial growth to the compromising stage (Gately & Gately, 2001), but struggled to achieve the third stage of collaboration. Teachers…

This article describes an action research project, based within a school, to develop and increase the social resiliency of students with special education needs in both school and community settings. The programme included role-plays, scenarios and problem solving. An assessment tool was developed to measure self-esteem amongst the students and…