Surveys of academic and vocational faculty at Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho) showed that academic faculty viewed vocational faculty more positively than was commonly assumed. The shift in attitudes signals the potential for the cooperation and teamwork essential for the success of tech prep. (SK)

Contrasts the realities of instructional leadership with the ideal, examining the overlap of instructional leadership and supervision. By reviewing instructional leadership depicted in three studies on the work life of principals, readers get a view through the schoolhouse window. Solutions to the problems of fragmentation and change are…

Describes an Illinois elementary principal's efforts to work with teachers to reshape her school's culture, curriculum, and organization into a model stressing collegiality and greater teacher involvement. A staff development calendar and action plan are presented to illustrate the patchwork quilting analogy. (four references) (MLH)

Special education reform has targeted placement of children with disabilities. Terms such as "mainstreaming,""least restrictive environment," and "full inclusion" describe various reform stages. This article briefly reviews the history of special education reform, discusses current ideas related to best practice, and…

This article describes techniques, used in a family-centered early intervention project, that both assist in accomplishing the goals of the Individualized Family Service Plan process and create opportunities for families to display their present competencies and acquire new ones to meet the needs of their children with communication disorders.…

As one Brooklyn high school discovered, quality improvement begins with administrator commitment and participants' immersion in the literature. Other key elements include ongoing training of personnel involved in the quality-improvement process, tools such as the Deming Cycle (plan-do-check-act), voluntary and goal-oriented teamwork, and a worthy…

A survey investigated the interprofessional perceptions of 75 therapeutic recreation and 80 occupational therapy practitioners. Results show significant differences in interprofessional perceptions and interdisciplinary cooperation between practitioners of these two disciplines. (GLR)

The University of Arizona's experience with a small-scale fund-raising project to establish a memorial scholarship illustrates that the development office's efforts in guiding a motivated group of donors can pay off. Planning elements included establishing a team, delegating tasks, handling mail and telephone calls, generating enthusiasm, and…

Issues are addressed concerning the speech-language assessment, management, and consultancy role of public school speech-language specialists to multicultural clients. Discussed are the reliability, validity, and relevance of assessment data; the replacement of substandard utterances; cooperation with teachers of English-as-a-Second-Language; and…

Discussion of staff development in distance education focuses on the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) for developing instructional design skills in subject experts. Contingency theories of management are examined, literature on CBAM is reviewed, and use of CBAM in a course team approach for course development is described. (22 references) (LRW)

In Monroe County (Indiana), an innovative new state program, Technology Preparation, ensures that high school students' coursework offers practical applications of academic concepts to real-life situations. The 4MAT model helped teachers build the Tech Prep program by sensitizing them to individual learning styles, including their own. (MLH)

The article offers a nine-step model for developing, implementing, and monitoring educational plans for exceptional students with limited English proficiency. Regular and special educators are encouraged to target the students, summarize student data, maintain rapport, share student information, and jointly plan an instructional intervention.…

Discusses the positive effects of cooperative learning on students' academic achievement, attitudes toward each other, and social and affective development. Describes two cooperative learning techniques with broad utility and adaptability: the jigsaw strategy and student teams achievement division. (SV)

Lehman College (New York) and Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center's labor union cooperate in training health care workers to function as members of interdisciplinary health care teams. Undergraduate training is made available in social work, nursing, and health services administration. Retention rates, academic achievement, and student…

A nurse educator specializing in diabetes recounts her own experience with vision loss resulting from diabetic retinopathy, considers the roles of rehabilitation specialists and diabetes educators, and urges the two professional groups to work together more closely. (DB)