This paper discusses barriers encountered by leaders when they attempt to implement change and redirect the collective focus in groups. It describes co-creative relationships that occur when leaders and followers work together in a reciprocally responsible relationship based on a common purpose. The process of covenanting toward a common purpose,…

Pieces of three narratives, related through dramatic readings, recount the experiences of three women who teach and write in the field of rhetoric and composition. One directs a freshman writing program, one is a full-time composition instructor, and one is an assistant professor of rhetoric and composition. Each is employed within the English…

The department of English at West Chester University, Pennsylvania provides a laboratory for examining the situation of composition in a department that has documented its dedication to a unified study of English based on attention to reading and writing. The department adopted a "Statement of Coherence" that signals a dialectic: the…

Given the benefits associated with collaboration, the question arises how to enhance collaborative efforts. Some of the forces that enable collaborative efforts are explored in this paper. The paper presents Frederick Erickson's framework of viewing contexts in three semipermeable levels (macrolevel, institutional level, and personal level) in an…

School planning is a critical process in melding a school with its educational programs in order to facilitate the efficient operation of these programs, and the administrative planner is central to the success of this process. This publication assists the planner in identifying the people and organizations that should become involved in the…

Findings of a study that examined effective approaches to the professional development of teachers are presented in this paper. Methodology involved a survey of principals in New South Wales, Australia, and the United States; an evaluation of 379 inschool staff development programs in New South Wales; case study analysis of 8 New South Wales…

Collaboration is often cited as fundamental to systemic change efforts. This paper presents a process-based model for collaboration, which can be adopted as part of systemic, generative change. Schools attempting to create a collaborative culture often encounter the following problems: collaborators who fail to translate their experiences to…

This paper provides guidelines for implementing a formal mentoring program for South African school principals. Based on a review of literature, the following steps are discussed in detail: (1) declaring intent; (2) determining the role players; (3) forming a planning committee; (4) implementing the program; and (5) evaluating the program.…

Arkansas supports a statewide network of academic alliances in the humanities. Academic alliances are collaborative groups of school and college teachers in the same discipline, established to improve teaching and learning, promote ongoing professional development, and foster lasting professional relationships. Staff of regional educational…

This paper describes the nature of the relationships developed between the technical assistance team of the Documentation and Technical Assistance (DTA) Project and members of a Chicago (Illinois) school district staff with whom the DTA worked. First, the methodology with which the technical assistance work was studied is described, as is the…

The literature on administrative style is reviewed. Attention is directed to four basic concepts of administrative style: (1) the structured, classical, traditional model; (2) the participatory or employee-involved operation; (3) a more behavioral scientific style; and (4) the situational or environmental style. These ideas are more fully…

Reports an exploratory investigation of the relationships among elementary school principals' ability to think abstractly, their perceived leadership styles, and the degree of complexity of their school interpersonal environments. A positive relationship exists between principals' complexity of conceptual structure and the degree of complexity of…

This presentation introduces the methods of negotiation and mediation in transdisciplinary decision-making, and applies the methods specifically to the educational needs and placements of students with disabilities. Four stages of mediation are described: problem identification, generation of problem-solving options, evaluation of options, and…

Written from the perspective of a participant, that is, the classroom teacher as novice supervisor, this paper presents, in case study form, a description of two cycles of clinical supervision involving teaching peers in an elementary school. The purposes of the paper are twofold. First, the paper explores, through illustrations from the case…

The merits of peer group supervision have been advocated widely, but the actual practice has been described infrequently. The structured peer group format is a model that provides an organizational structure and a systematic procedure for conducting peer groups. In application, the approach can be adapted to match the developmental levels of the…