Describes a small K-6 staff's restructuring plans for its predominantly Navajo student body. The case study, concerned with planning for nongraded classes, represents a lesson in how not to plan. Although some positive curricular changes have occurred, administrative leadership was perceived as ineffective, and staff neglected to plan for cultural…

Bennington College (Vermont) president Elizabeth Coleman is pursuing a controversial plan to transform the institution, financially and intellectually. Debate centers on whether her plan is truly innovative and will return the college to a former vitality or constitutes a hasty housecleaning. Faculty dismissals are under investigation. (MSE)

Examines general instructional strategies and specific intervention programs that are frequently discussed for their potential for improving education for African American students and that have a strong research base and appear particularly promising. Prerequisites for effective implementation of innovative approaches are discussed. Effective…

Applies risk management models to child care administration. These models have been used by corporations to plan for crisis management. The formation of a crisis management policy and procedure is described, and features of effective communication during crises are outlined. (GLR)

The University of Mississippi's modern language department chairman discusses the chair's role in achieving faculty diversity and offers guidelines for hiring minority faculty, including realistic self-examination and portrayal, targeting all minorities, developing a working relationship with counterpart departments in other institutions, visiting…

School effectiveness, rather than distribution of power, is the key school reform issue. The structure of shared decision making should be driven by what administrators and teachers believe is important for kids. In a recently restructured San Diego community school, the principal's primary function as chief executive officer is "keeper of…

Discusses ways in which child care program directors can provide a model of good early childhood education in their training visits to classrooms. Presents a workshop format and agenda for training early childhood education teachers in observation skills. (GLR)

In the site-based management model, principals must have specific skills for effective leadership. Those skills include an ability to motivate teachers, support open management, engineer participative decision making, develop human and group skills with strong communication, and lead and guide activities and groups toward the goals of the school.…

Definitions and lists of critical thinking abilities, along with guidelines for utilizing the Delphi Technique, are presented as a procedural model for districts searching for curriculum consensus. Results are reported for a study wherein 16 educators of gifted students used the Delphi Technique to reach consensus on criteria for a thinking skills…

Administrators must abandon transactional (control-oriented) and instructional leadership modes and use facilitative power to make second-order changes in their schools. Transformational leadership provides the proper focus by helping staff members develop and maintain a collaborative, professional school culture; fostering teacher development;…

A discussion of collective bargaining for part-time college faculty looks at research conducted in Canada and the United States and uses the case of York University (Canada) to examine the politics of collective bargaining and the mediative roles assumed by management in three specific conflict areas of part-time employment policy. (MSE)

As Total Quality Management teams work to improve organizational processes, several types of facilitators emerge: the director, the workhorse, and the cheerleader. Experience at the University of Kansas illustrates how different facilitator styles can affect team learning. (MSE)

A project designed to facilitate scholarly networking among business administration faculty, thereby contributing to the reputation of colleagues and colleges, used citation analysis to identify invisible college researcher networks and disseminate information about them. Ideas for encouraging networking, including editorial support, journal…

A national survey of 235 directors of programs offering Bachelors of Social Work found that sources of personal, structural, and institutional power were important predictors of power for middle managers in academic settings. Results also direct their programs and manage departmental resources. (Author/MSE)

Explores district leaders' roles in implementing a year-round schooling reform. Examines experiences of four Florida districts, stressing social, political, and fiscal contexts. Leaders promote innovation by acting humanely and openly, and by eschewing unfulfillable promises. Creating widespread support, being flexible, and crafting a climate for…