The experiences of Columbine and El Cajon high schools with media onslaughts following traumatic shooting incidents underscore the importance of getting the message across and sticking to known facts. In a crisis, speculation can hurt everyone. The most important elements in crisis communications are planning and media relations. (MLH)

Based on qualitative research (interviews with 39 elementary teachers and case studies of two schools), demonstrates that two important concepts can clarify school leaders' crucial role in teachers' professional development. If principals create workplace conditions that offer learning space and opportunities, learning experiences will happen.…

Summarizes the collection of articles in this issue that reflect on the Leading for Diversity Project and examine how school leaders in various roles can help improve racial/ethnic relations in schools, particularly schools serving diverse populations with histories of race-related conflict or tension. Explains how the articles are creating a road…

Tells what has happened the last two years at the University of Louisville's English department. Presents a brief explanation of why the University of Louisville's English department decided to redefine their mission--moving all professorial faculty into first-year composition. Offers some general comments about what the author has learned as a…

Maps out strategies gained from experience in hiring an African American faculty member. Suggests that all the forms of institution commitment, administrative support, faculty involvement, and recruitment efforts must be intensified when competing for a person from a small pool of potential candidates. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on a single type of faculty member, the language program director, giving an account of the responsibilities involved, credentials, and status in the tenure system. As cultural and textual content become more important in introductory courses, and as attention to language learning is emphasized throughout the upper levels of the…

Describes how a study abroad program benefited a foreign language department through cooperation with other departments on campus and has increased the number of better-prepared students for advanced courses. Two keys to this success are integration of the study abroad program into the academic curriculum and the credit system and some well-honed…

Provides guidelines suggested by the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages for the administration of foreign language departments. (Author/VWL)

Interviewed British higher education middle managers about their roles, specifically the extent to which collegiality was a significant factor in the university's internal decision making. Respondents noted difficulties with and imperfections in collegiality but considered it the most appropriate form of decision making because it was important to…

Shares knowledge about the administrative audience, what the authors wish they had known when they were directors of writing centers and writing programs. Addresses how they could have negotiated for more dollars, more space, more options for expanding and improving services. Notes that administrators are part of the institution and can be…

Examines the economies at play in the textbook/teaching intersection. Argues that administrators need to interrogate their own complicity in composition textbook publishing processes, and that there is considerable revision they can enact by inserting themselves (as writing program administrators) into the process at appropriate points. Argues for…

Provides suggestions from a Catholic school principal on leading a school effectively and joyfully: (1) be fair in your dealings with students, parents, and teachers; (2) be outstanding (and out, standing where things are happening); and (3) be yourself. Emphasizes the importance of translating ideas into action designed to share God's word. (CW)

The national education goals developed during the historic 1989 Education Summit became the springboard for several federal initiatives, including the National Science Education Standards. The Standards define levels of understanding and abilities that all students should develop and recognize that many groups, including principals, share…

Three main themes in the conflict experienced by college department heads are examined: conflict inherent in the structure of higher education (institutional), conflict created when people work together (interpersonal), and that woven into the chair position (positional). These conflicts are not necessarily negative or positive; these…

Includes five essays by community college presidents and researchers discussing college leadership and the direction leaders must take in the future. Examines college programs, educational finance, part-time faculty utilization, accountability, the effects of gender differences on leadership styles, leadership competencies, and the difficulties…