The Clark Atlanta University (GA) women's basketball coach recruits high academic achievers and supports their academic and athletic performance with discipline, on-the-road study, and teamwork. The approach has been effective for achieving athletic, academic, and interpersonal goals. (MSE)

An SBM team chairman of a middle school-college collaboration explains ongoing problems, including teachers' discomfort with student and parent participation, teacher-administrator power struggles, the push for immediate results, and communication issues. Despite setbacks, the group has some tangible outcomes: improved safety procedures, a…

Describes a small-scale comparative study of management development in various public- and private-sector organizations in the West Midlands, England. Interview data were gathered from 15 managers in 5 organizations. Findings showed disparity between organizational intent and workplace reality. Effective management development requires a strong…

Outlines a framework for organizing discussions of quality of life for elderly persons with disabilities, reviews relevant empirical research, and develops a framework for understanding the different interpretations of quality of life as it is used in communication among health care providers, elderly patients, and their families. New models of…

This article reviews the literature on conflict resolution skills and applies it to local interagency coordinating councils attempting to coordinate services to young children with special needs and their families. Six dimensions (climate, people, resources, agency, process, and policies) of the collaborative process are identified. (Author/DB)

This study investigated variables that enhance or detract from successful parent/professional partnerships. A survey of 23 parents, 30 service coordinators, and 5 experts identified characteristics and behaviors of parents and coordinators that each group perceived as productive or unproductive. (DB)

An outdoor leader describes personal experiences with hard-of-hearing children and offers observations on understanding communication methods, incorporating individuals with various training, involving parents, and fostering teamwork. Stresses that apart from the disability, deaf children should be seen as "normal" in other ways. (KS)

Cooperative learning can help teach children to write because (1) it raises consciousness and encourages decision making; (2) its accepting social environment helps students seek worthwhile experiences; and (3) mutual concern and discussion of differing viewpoints rely on dialogue to enhance personal and intellectual growth. (SM)

In "The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization" (1990), Peter Senge shows how educators can achieve meaningful change and transform schools into self-renewing learning organizations. Organizations must develop five disciplines: personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems…

Presents 35 strategies for dealing with common challenges that may arise in the cooperative learning classroom. Challenges include children who cannot get along, who prefer to be alone, who are unmotivated, who cannot keep up, who finish first, who finish last, and who make too much noise. (SM)

Explored similarities between psychosocial environments of consultee-centered consultation groups and task-oriented, social-recreational, and psychotherapy/mutual support groups as measured by the Group Environmental Scale (GES). Findings from 180 student teachers involved in consultee-centered mental health consultation groups revealed that GES…

According to two recent surveys, middle-level administrators' essential job skills include an ability to understand developing adolescents' characteristics and needs, develop and communicate a vital, responsive school philosophy, promote shared decision making, guide creation of an interdisciplinary team organization, develop a continuous school…

Improving the leadership skills of the school business manager will promote organizational structure, norms, and policies. A district staff-development program in consensus skills can simultaneously address problems and develop skills. (MLF)

Managed group formation uses student personal value data and sociometric nomination to optimize the influence of work group formation on student learning. Resulting work group formations are used to enhance the effectiveness of traditional course content and to increase students' sensitization to important group process issues in business policy.…

During 1992-93, an upstate New York district saved a million dollars while improving services for special needs students. The district saved tuition costs by reclaiming 80 disabled children formerly placed in outside programs. By carefully reviewing students' learning difficulties, staff lowered the number of students classified as educationally…