Kennesaw State College (Georgia) has developed initiatives to enhance leadership and team-building skills of classified employees. The programs include a staff leadership training course, open to 20-24 employees annually, and the Staff Training and Orientation Program (STOP) to provide new employees with information about the institution in an…

Explains how teachers can introduce cooperative learning, suggesting they (1) discuss cooperative behavior with students; (2) initiate small, basic, cooperative groups and activities; (3) facilitate cooperation; (4) add variety and expand the activities. Essential elements include positive interdependence, individual accountability, personal…

A study of a team-building workshop demonstrates that all four levels of Donald Kirkpatrick's classic evaluation model could be applied to soft skills training. Results show that such training can be tied to productivity measures and evaluated as a return on investment. (JOW)

Contrasts the faculty-led administration of the Waldorf Schools founded by R. Steiner with the administration by local school councils established in the Chicago (Illinois) Public Schools through the School Reform Act. In Chicago, morale and status of teachers can be improved by increasing their administrative partnership. (SLD)

Describes the collaboration between Bowling Green city schools and Bowling Green State University. Higher education faculty and K-12 teachers work in each other's classrooms to improve instruction, facilitate curriculum development, and enhance faculty development. The article describes partnership projects, elaborates one case study, and…

Principals and central-office administrators often spend little time interacting or discussing curriculum, instruction, and staff development. Leadership consciousness must be formed through links between schools and the central office. In a restructured setting, central-office leaders support the principal, provide technical assistance and…

Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that, in most cases, nursery schools, center-based child care facilities, and home care providers be accessible to children with disabilities. Collaborative teams of child care and early intervention providers are suggested as an essential part of the early childhood education and…

This study analyzed and compared the perceptions of elementary-level learning disabilities resource teachers (n=83) and general education teachers (n=64) regarding actual and ideal performance of collaborative roles. Results indicated significant differences in teacher perceptions of actual and ideal performance of collaborative roles. Constraints…

A spirit of collegiality and productivity flourishes at a Glendale, Arizona, middle school. Staff focus on integrating academic, exploratory, and thematic learning to develop students' cooperative learning and thinking skills. Curriculum connections happen by raising awareness about integrated/interdisciplinary curricula, visiting other schools,…

A former college teacher's eight-year experience in the business world taught him valuable lessons about audience awareness, risk taking, honoring social and political differences, teamwork, civility within an organization, preservation of standards under duress, and humane and productive use of evaluative information. (MSE)

The article views instructional supervision as the sum of the personal interactions between and among teachers and the principal that lead to the improvement of instruction. As an instructional leader, the principal focuses less on doing things right and more on doing the right things to improve student achievement. (SM)

Discusses how administrators can help teachers and administrators become role effective. After considering what teachers need to function as professionals, the article examines the leadership function and its relationship to supervision, clarifying the use of supervision as a process, describing major supervisory functions, and noting the…

Five winning guideposts that facilitate development and maintenance of a strong community relations program are climate building, confidence building, team building, image building, and commitment building. The influence of community relations on public education support bases depends immensely on personal and group interrelationships and the…

To provide students with interdisciplinary instruction, future teachers need a broad base of knowledge and skills enabling them to comprehend the interrelationships and dependencies among disciplines. The article describes how San Diego State University's teacher education program accomplishes this and offers planning guidelines. (SM)

The Future Problem Solving Program develops students' problem-solving and thinking skills as student teams undertake a step-by-step process which involves assessing the teams' existing knowledge of the topic, determining the knowledge they need, gathering information, organizing their knowledge, and using the knowledge to solve specific problems.…