A study of 27 employees of an agency that provides services to persons with developmental disabilities investigated using the six-item Guttman scale, based on the Levels of Use framework, for monitoring the adoption and implementation of person-centered planning and other supports-oriented programs. High scores indicated likelihood of…

Presents a case study, as seen through the eyes of the principal and sixth-grade team, of one middle school's attempt to move away from a tracking system which discriminated against students on the basis of test scores, and therefore, against students of color. Explores movement toward student equity through heterogeneous grouping and the…

Examines two approaches to teacher education reform: (1) decentralization and (2) a national bureaucratic strategy to adopt uniform standards for teacher accreditation, mandate curricular requisites, and legislate policies governing teacher professional development. The paper explains that teacher education must prepare teachers to work in the…

As individuals contemplate a new worldview of leadership education, they must step back to reflect on what now shapes and constrains leaders in schools. Their understandings of traditional leadership are rooted in organizational theory that is focused on rationality, effectiveness, and efficiency of bureaucratic institutions, defining the…

Mentoring programs for youth have grown tremendously in popularity in recent years and in many important respects reflect core principles of community psychology. Mentoring of youth is a complex phenomenon, however, with a range of significant processes occurring at the levels of individual youth and their mentors, youth-mentor relationships and…

The author started a conversation with friends that led to a conference program. They surveyed women faculty, department heads, and senior administrators and asked them how they would advise young professionals struggling with personal and professional balance. The author, along with Tony Cawthon, incorporated the work on balance into several…

The MotivAider[R] is a small electronic device that can be set to vibrate at different times to remind people to manage their behavior. The MotivAider[R] can help keep students focused on a task, reduce "nagging" from a teacher, and eliminate the need for constant reminders to the student to stay engaged. This article includes several examples of…

Introduction: It has been suggested that the use of opinion leaders in the dissemination of information may be an effective method of changing clinical practice. Recent reviews on this topic, however, have found mixed results and have concluded that further research is needed to explore the circumstances that effectively utilize opinion leaders.…

A rationale for reforming and repositioning continuing medical education (CME) is featured in this article. As envisioned by the Conjoint Committee Report on CME and presented in other literature, the CME professional is defined, along with requisite CME professional competencies. Perspectives of CME professionals regarding the Maintenance of…

The year 2005 began with high schools taking center stage in Washington's continuing drama concerning education reform. President George W. Bush started things off in January, when he delivered a ringing address at a suburban District of Columbia high school about the urgency of reforming American high schools and offered a bold $1.5 billion plan…

If the goal is to fundamentally change the culture inside schools, people need to move beyond the superficiality of professional learning communities and focus on a system of learners. Professional learning communities are in fact about establishing lasting new collaborative cultures. Collaborative cultures are ones that focus on building the…

In this paper, the author discusses the history and mission of the Networked Learning Communities programme of the National College of School Leadership (NCSL). The programme was launched in Autumn 2001. By March the following year 150 Networked Learning Communities made submissions to the NCSL and 41 networks (from Berwick upon Tweed to Penzance)…

Students who succeeded in school are almost always supported by their families, while other students struggle without support from home. For a school to develop a partnership program involving all parents in ways that increase student success requires new ways of thinking about family and community involvement. All schools need a purposeful,…

National leaders in the field of gifted education have voiced serious concerns regarding the effect of No Child Left Behind on gifted children. This article looks inside classrooms to determine if and how such concerns materialize in the "real world." A survey of selected teachers in various elementary- and middle-school settings in four…

This article describes how the "developmental structuralist" theory of emotional development has evolved over 25 years into the developmental-individual difference-relationship (DIR[R]) approach to assessment and intervention. ZERO TO THREE and the Interdisciplinary Council for Developmental and Learning Disorders (ICDL) trace their roots to the…