This booklet examines four philosophical approaches which undergird the tenets of middle school: (1) invitational education; (2) democratic schools; (3) constructivist teaching; and (4) reflective teaching. An introduction discusses the history of the middle school movement, lists characteristics of exemplary middle schools, presents…

The Staff Development Needs Assessment Survey was sent to all teachers, pupil services personnel, and administrators in Wyoming school districts. Of these, 1501 surveys from teachers and pupil services personnel (23 percent) and 138 administrator surveys (35 percent) were returned. The needs assessment was designed to address: (1) current staff…

In some educational systems, legislative action mandates teacher participation in decision making through the formation of policymaking bodies such as school councils. This paper presents findings of a study that investigated high school teachers' perceptions of empowerment in schools with and without school councils. The study investigated…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined the change process in 28 schools, with a focus on how principals went about transforming traditional school-work cultures into quality systems. The principals had participated in Managing Productive Schools (MPS), a comprehensive systems-approach program based on quality management concepts.…

Van Duyn Elementary School (Syracuse, New York) implemented a site-based project to develop student character. The neighborhood is a racially mixed, stable, private home community with 58 percent of students eligible for free or reduced price lunches. The school's objectives as part of a shared decision making, pilot school process were to have…

The concept of vision is necessary to keep school improvement on track. This paper describes the efforts of two school districts to develop their school-district visions through a collaborative vision-building process. Each district--the Dekalb School District in northeastern Texas and the Altus School District in southwestern Oklahoma--began the…

Based in part on a 1992 study of 72 United States early care collaborations and leaders, this paper explores conventional understandings of leadership, reviews the leadership literature, and goes on to compare and discuss collaborative leadership in detail. The paper notes that collaborative leadership stresses the relatedness of systems wherein…

Practices to maintain and enhance board-member relationships are described in this handbook. Following the preface, chapter 1 presents a historical overview to describe the problems involved in defining the proper roles for school boards and superintendents. Chapter 2 identifies current board/administrator roles and what they should be for the…

A staff development process that uses group-building activities to foster staff collegiality is described in this paper. As schools become involved in restructuring, cooperation and positive working relationships become more crucial for effective school teams involved in participative decision making. Five characteristics of group-building…

This paper examines how institutions of higher education can achieve more diverse academic communities. It is argued that modernist interpretations of organizations limit academic change designed to encourage the voiceless members of society through an overemphasis on outcomes and efficiency. Section 1 discusses the general debate between…

This digest summarizes a longer document with the same title concerning the introduction of enduring innovations into a higher education organization. Organizational change involves three steps: (1) mobilization, (2) implementation, and (3) institutionalization. Without institutionalization, the innovation is likely to be terminated no matter how…

This paper discusses the problems encountered in applying rational and participatory models to school reform and presents an alternative model based on action research. The group processes of a school-improvement team (SIT) at a high school are examined. Data were collected through participant observation, interviews with three faculty members,…

This workbook is designed for people interested in facilitating Personal Futures Planning, a person-centered creative planning process designed to help people craft a life of meaning and contribution for a person with developmental disabilities. The facilitator of the Futures Planning process organizes a group to listen to the dreams and desires…

Interviews with 34 teachers at a rural high school in northeastern Connecticut examined cognitive constraints affecting teacher involvement in participative decision making. The principal recently restructured the school in an attempt to ensure teacher decision making. Data collection consisted of a standardized open-ended interview conducted at…

In rural coastal communities, trade-offs between conserving and developing environmentally sensitive resources are acute. At the community level, part-time volunteers and citizen officials are asked to make complex decisions based on ambiguous and frequently contradictory "scientific" evidence of economic and environmental relationships.…