Networks, consortia, and coalitions among school districts are cost-effective means to provide staff development, improve instruction, and develop curriculum. This article summarizes results of two studies in Oregon that focused on cross-organizational collaboration for school improvement. Guidelines are provided for organizations and individuals…

Described are efforts to integrate special and regular elementary-level students from two separate but adjacent facilities. Three years after the special school's opening, observational data and questionnaires revealed almost total segregation. Subsequently, an intensive intervention program generated promising, short-term movement toward…

This article briefly explores major arguments of the debate on the merger of regular and special education and examines barriers that make rational discussion of the issue difficult. Lessons learned from the struggle for mainstreaming are outlined, in order to guide changes in teacher education that would promote merger. (Author/JDD)

Describes various approaches for the media specialist to use in getting teachers involved in library media activities: the Traditional Approach; the "Keeping up with the Jones" Approach; the "Sneak up on Your Enemy" Approach; the "Element of Surprise" Approach; and the "Kill Them with Kindness" Approach. (MES)

States that using diverse types of museums as sources of information for writing helps to stimulate imagination and personal expression. Describes many possible approaches, including poets in museums, curriculum collaborative programs, intensive student writing projects, high school programs, and after-school programs. Discusses problems that may…

Agencies that served as field placements for the Simmons College School of Social Work (n=101) responded to questionnaires asking about the effects of major funding cuts on their agencies and their training of social work interns. Although more than half reported supervisory cutbacks and increased dependence on less experienced staff, the agencies…

Maintains that second-language readers may have problems with content area text, particularly in the areas of language, background knowledge, and advanced literacy skills. Argues that faculty collaboration is the key, with ESL specialists, reading specialists, and content area teachers supporting second-language students in content area…

A case study of a teacher committee collaborating on development of school policy illuminates such barriers to teacher collaboration and school-based management as time constraints and lack of inservice support. A major difficulty is that the culture of teaching is based on privacy and individualism. (SK)

The new "planned integrated schools" in Northern Ireland are changing parent-teacher relationships. Parents have a wide range of models of what parent-teacher cooperation should be. There are significant differences in the way cooperation is developing in primary and secondary schools. (SK)

Public schools and home-school advocates have moved closer in tolerance. All 50 states now allow some kind of home schooling. Four states (Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and Iowa) allow home-schooled children to take part in public school extracurricular activities. One California district provides funds to home-schooling families to purchase…

A collaboration between a university faculty member and an adult basic education teacher successfully implemented an instructional strategy in the classroom by means of three factors: commitment, continuous interaction, and a collegial relationship. (SK)

In a partnership model, all members of a higher education institution work together to anticipate and meet students' changing needs, favoring team goals and course improvement. The model should replace traditional mechanistic models emphasizing form over function and regulation over innovation. (SK)

Outlines the Massachusetts and Virginia models for adult education courseware evaluation. Suggests ways to improve evaluation through state and regional resource centers and other collaborative efforts. (SK)

Charters, Knowles, and Kreitlow, recognized leaders in adult education, respond to the question: What is your vision of adult education in 2000? (SK)

Popular education, with its agenda for social change, often lacks access to traditional financial support. Strategies for resource development include volunteers, small proportion of public funding, an umbrella organization to distribute funds, and collaboration with adult educators in mainstream institutions. (SK)