Examines the Syracuse School District's custodial staff's efforts to simultaneously increase revenue, lower costs, and create a more healthful school environment. Tips for successfully transforming the custodial department from old to modern, efficient methods are highlighted. (GR)

Site visitations to various campuses or facilities help planners decide how the observed features can be incorporated into future facility planning. Includes specific tasks for the planning team, 11 common site visit pitfalls, a preliminary site-visit checklist, criteria for site-visitation reports, and goals for educational specifications. (MLF)

Faced with government-mandated restructuring, Dutch secondary schools and universities are networking to tackle school and professional development concerns. The collegial network helps teachers interpret and influence government policies, learn from one anothers' experience, tap into external expertise, and develop new educational approaches,…

Examined the nature and extent of structural change and how successfully various constituency groups were handling the change in three schools. Findings indicated that positive change was occurring along with anticipated dimensions of quality schooling indicators, while curriculum and instructional reform lagged behind. Claims that these schools…

The Vermont Interdependent Services Team Approach (VISTA), a process to facilitate consensus decision making about type and frequency of support services, was tested by 11 educational teams serving seven students (ages 4-20) with multiple disabilities. Results indicate that support service decisions changed, specialists made different decisions…

Cooperative games can teach children to work together. Fifteen games, suitable for three different age groups, are outlined. It is essential that everyone be allowed to play, but no one be forced to participate; criticisms, teasing, and rough play are not allowed, and rule changes must be accepted by everyone. (SLD)

Discusses high-involvement work teams, in which groups of workers participate in improving their work activities; describes how a typical work team progresses through a project; and introduces a systems model of interrelated steps through which teams may progress to solve problems. (LRW)

An interdisciplinary team developed an undergraduate course to teach geriatrics students about ethnicity, health, and aging. Two important aspects of such a course were identified: the dynamics of team learning and multicultural education. (SK)

Describes a model for team developmental assessment of high-risk infants using a fiber-optic "distance learning" televideo network in south-central New York. An arena style transdisciplinary play-based assessment model was adapted for use across the televideo connection and close simulation of convention assessment procedures was…

A nine-week course attempted to develop the interpersonal, transferable, and management skills of animal science students through team exercises. It was successful in improving most of the 23 skills, but made little or no change in working to schedule, listening, or absorbing spoken information. (SK)

Examination of problem-focused and solution-focused facilitation approaches used with functional and dysfunctional corporate groups found that both approaches were equally effective at increasing teamwork in functional corporate groups; that problem-focused facilitation was less effective with dysfunctional corporate groups; and that…

Describes a needs assessment project that included the development and implementation of two distinctive features to aid in performance improvement: a pre-assessment planning process to educate clients about the analysis process and establish an outcomes-oriented strategic focus; and a theory-to-practice process to analyze team performance issues…

Reports accomplishments of teachers who overcame obstacles to create innovative learning opportunities using electronic technologies. Summarizes findings of a research project conducted by Department of Defense Education Activity schools with teachers who worked in small teams to plan, implement, and evaluate innovative practices and used Vanguard…

Considers that to prepare students to thrive in a group project environment, educators need to teach them effective teamwork and communication skills. Describes two tools that can help accomplish this task, the electronic discussion board and the chat room. Concludes that these tools can be a tremendous aid for faculty to address group project…

This article presents a detailed example of how faculty and staff at one middle school implemented team-based functional behavioral assessment (FBA) planning procedures with a student exhibiting recurring minor problems. Insets list tasks and considerations for an FBA, a sample formatted antecedent-behavior-consequence summary of team member…