A literature review, the experiences of the authors, and the results of the Project To Improve and Reward Teaching (PIRT) at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, are used to derive suggestions for change in academic departments. A qualitative study of change in eight PIRT departments has provided data to support the suggestions. Assessing the…

Academic departments across the nation must reinvent new forms of collegiality and become more outward-oriented, more focused on results, and more entrepreneurial. They must develop new systems to reward their members, enhance productivity, and assure the quality of their work. Change strategies in the literature fall into six categories: (1)…

Describes the efforts of three college English departments to train their undergraduate and graduate students to teach writing. (HOD)

This directory lists more than 150 organizations, agencies institutions, and volunteer groups involved in developing teacher education curriculum, providing training, promoting professional advancement, instigating programs of innovative instruction and implementing educational policy for preservice and inservice training of teachers for…

Factors reported to be important in the design, implementation, and evaluation of professional development programs for department chairs are described. Attention is also directed to results from a goal-focused evaluation of the 6-year-old program to train new department heads in the nine state universities of Florida, a program that is being…

All the 11 publications in this annotated bibiliography explore the department head's dual role as teacher and instructional leader. Three articles characterize principals' role as managerial and recommend that primary instructional and curriculur responsibilities be delegated to department heads with clearly designated positions in the school's…

The digest is drawn from "Preparing Department Chairs for Their Leadership Roles," a "New Directions for Community Colleges" volume. Two main issues regarding community college department chairs are discussed: role-related issues facing new department chairs, and training and development programs that aid in preparing…

This issue focuses on preparing department chairs for their leadership roles. It presents qualities that experienced chairs cite as being crucial to success, and asserts the need to develop formal training programs for people newly appointed to these positions. Articles include: (1) "Midlevel Management in the Community College: A Rose Garden?"…

This paper outlines the possibilities for scientific inquiry into the design of the university organization structure. In a theoretical context, bureaucratic management techniques were not refined enough to apply to university structures until the mid-twentieth century. Universities today are bureaucracies in that they have a formal division of…

An internship program, created by the English Department at Saint Cloud (Minnesota) State University, is designed to respond to the current need for an improvement in the workplace literacy of many American workers. The internship and concurrent colloquium provide a crucial link between theory and practice, enabling learners to reflect critically…

The role of state departments of education in rural education involves responsibilities, leadership, funding, regional assistance, and preparing for the future. It is the responsibility of the state department to act as a regulatory, governing, and operating agency and to distribute federal funds to areas of need. The state department can provide…

An effective recruiting program is one that locates the best candidate available, makes an acceptable job offer, and retains the new employee for at least eight years. Successful recruiting results from a department chair's commitment to a people-oriented administration. By being aware of the career paths of faculty members, the chair can…

During the past 10 years, there has been a movement among state education departments to develop academic content standards, standards-based assessments of student achievement, and standards-related high school graduation requirements for students. This Digest discusses: (1) state content standards in history; (2) standards-based student…

This digest considers the problems of foreign language instruction in small high schools and discusses possible solutions. A critical challenge for American education, pointed out by reform reports of the 1980's, is improvement of instruction in foreign languages to instill language proficiency. These national concerns have been translated into…

Chapter 9 of a revised volume on school leadership, this chapter focuses on the principal's instructional leadership goals and functions. Leading the instructional program requires both an understanding of educational technique and a personal vision of academic excellence that can be translated into effective classroom strategies. Research shows…