Examines the benefits and the limitations of educational reform literature as applied to implementing collaborative services. A practical, research-based strategy for developing collaborative relationships includes getting started, developing a community collaborative council, identifying a shared vision and goals, conducting a needs assessment,…

Some school critics blame democracy for fostering waste and unhappy workers. Making reconstruction of our economic system the educational reform agenda removes chance to redress many social problems or reenvision democracy. Public education reform must embrace a kind of democracy that values full and free discussion by all school community…

Notes that service utilization is result of complex and dynamic interaction between social services consumers and providers. Sees effective strategies for change in service utilization based on understanding of characteristics of consumers and their environment. Contends that social work administrators can change utilization by manipulating…

Portfolio assessment of student performance includes a repository that enables students to document authentic examples of academic work and presentations as well as nonschool achievements. The article assesses the use of portfolio-based assessment to promote comprehensive school health education, offering practical recomendations for portfolio…

Three classes of change involved in improving the daily living skills of persons with visual impairments include changes in the work or product (the highest level of change), changes in the workplace, and changes in the worker's activity. Case studies of three adults illustrate the three levels of change. (Author/DB)

Describes one high school's preparatory efforts to detrack the English program. Focuses on characteristics that are evident in the culture of successfully detracked schools. (SR)

Describes and compares the foci, methods, and outcomes of experiential-education and organizational-development models. Explores the synthesis of the two models in developing corporate adventure programs and services. Lists the contributions that each approach offers to corporate programs. (KS)

Performance funding reemerged in the 1990s as a state budgetary method for complementing or replacing other funding strategies for public colleges to better promote and respond to specific policy concerns. It has the potential to correct some of the apparent flaws in traditional budgeting but is easier to define than to put into operation. (MSE)

Notes that the ecological perspective on observation of learning focuses on the processes of interaction while attempting to unravel them from the inside out. Concludes that this approach requires a new look at basic assumptions about its role in the construction of theory and practice, i.e., evidence of learning will require new ways to document…

Argues that change in education requires a big-picture mentality of systemic reform. Discusses important issues and factors in the change process, common barriers to educational change, and an eight-stage process for producing lasting organizational change. (SR)

The contemporary conception of learning communities addresses modern problems, but its roots are in early 20th-century reform movements. Combining curricular structure and some pedagogical insights from these earlier experiments and much theory about the teaching/learning processes from John Dewey, learning communities provide an economically…

A year-long, intensive case study of a Los Angeles school involved in school-based management (SBM) showed that four commitments drove successful reform: a learning imperative, strong sense of community, staff and parent leadership, and a capacity-building imperative. SBM facilitated individuals' actions without influencing decision-making…

Teachers should stop teaching traditional school-room grammar entirely. There is no reason to wound youngsters with something they will never learn and never need. Instead, teachers should treat usage and mechanics in gentle, encouraging, nontechnical, and innovative ways. A communication correctly understood by a native speaker is grammatical.…

A study investigated effects of training related to using the Sequenced Transition to Education in the Public Schools model (STEPS) on the development of community-wide transition systems. Seven teams composed of public schools, Head Start, and early intervention representatives were trained. Change occurred as a result of the training. (Author/CR)

Addresses the issues faced when evaluating an early-childhood gifted-education program from two fields of study, early childhood and gifted education, that represent different perspectives. Describes the evaluation process and the resulting effect of the evaluation on the constituents and stakeholders of an early-childhood program. (Author/CR)