School administrators can work to develop leadership competencies in department heads, including the ability to encourage and assist fellow teachers. Suggestions for further reading are offered. (MJL)

The briefing paper examines the problems in providing vocational education to handicapped secondary students in South Carolina; reviews three major laws mandating vocational training for the handicapped (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Vocational Educationl Act of 1963 as mandated through…

Adequate grading of student compositions in large classes makes inordinate demands on the English teacher's time. To convince administrators to reduce teaching loads, teachers need familiarity with research supporting the instructional advantages of smaller classes and closer attention, and with opposing research. (An extensive annotated research…

Reviews recent research on the department head role in English and Welsh secondary schools. Aims to link current knowledge to department heads' influence on classroom teaching and learning processes. The literature is fragmentary, treats the role from a holistic viewpoint, and does not address department heads' influences on classroom practice.…

In The Netherlands, school management is no longer deemed senior management's exclusive preserve. This paper reports Dutch research into departmental teams carrying out middle-management functions in secondary schools. Departments offer relevant contexts for teachers' collective engagement and collaboration but can create barriers to professional…

There is a growing body of credible evidence that successful efforts can be made to improve the quality of secondary education despite cutbacks in educational resources. Such efforts are demanded by the current conservative public attitude toward education, as exemplified by movements for tax and spending limitations and for the return to…

Focuses on reasons why so few females hold leadership positions in physical education (PE) in Australian secondary schools. Results from in-depth interviews with 27 female PE educators reveal stereotypic attitudes and expectations regarding gender roles as barriers. Career decision making was found to be influenced by female instructors' personal…

This report summarizes the contents of the 270 secondary level basic skills improvement program plans for reading, writing, and mathematics submitted by school districts in Massachusetts to the State Department of Education. School districts developed these plans in response to the State Board of Education Policy and Regulations published in…

A chair of a university's department of Romance languages and literature addresses the status of two high priorities in the teaching of foreign languages: the integration of linguistics in the "new" curriculum; the continuing development of language teaching approaches in the classroom; and the commitment of foreign language programs in the…

Addressing the issue of testing and evaluation in English at the university level, this paper focuses on the development and use of the English Placement Test developed by the California State University system. The discussion of this testing program is placed within a framework of four testing principles: testing is an essential part of learning…

New trends for visual, musical, and theatrical arts are described in this report, which is arranged into seven brief sections. The first section reports on the trend to integrate the arts into the secondary academic curriculum (a kind of mainstreaming). Specific efforts directed toward mainstreaming at the local, state, and national levels are…

This article provides an overview of policymaking in relation to state and local district testing and accountability and concludes by identifying continuing policy issues and strategies for local implementation of standards-based secondary education that aligns with current testing and accountability policies. Governance models for curriculum…

A significant change in vocational education brought about by the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act 1990 amendments was the introduction of outcome-based accountability. Accountability from the local perspective was explored through interviews with local program administrators, staff, students, and employers in secondary and…

This document is a monograph in a personnel development series addressing issues that are pertinent for policy-making personnel concerned with interagency/interdepartmental coordination and personnel preparation to benefit handicapped students. Section 1 discusses the coordination process between special education, vocational education, and…