George Wilkinson, who has managed planning for United Way of America since 1980, observes that local planners using strategic planning raise more money and solve more community problems than those without such a process. Marketing is identical to strategic planning; both involve looking at an organization, doing and analysis, examining the future,…

Sylwester says education must begin relying more on biology than social and behavioral science. All brain systems move from a slow, awkward functional level to a fast, efficient level. Contributions of metacognition, self-regulation, emotions, reflective and reflexive responses, comparison, and classification to cognitive development are…

Educators involved in staff development share insights about changes in the field over 25 years, discussing staff development as a professional function, reflections from a founder of the National Staff Development Council, professional advances, staff development as a major force for educational change, and blending individual development with…

Wide-ranging discussion about family structure, society and individuals, a curriculum for caring, and involving the school in the community. (MLF)

Briefly discusses Phillip Schlechty's view on teacher career development with university cooperation, needs for systematic faculty development, appropriate administrator roles, encouragement of professionalism, the use of differentiated staffing patterns, and appropriate attitudes toward reform. (PGD)

The editor of ASCD's "Interdisciplinary Curriculum: Design and Implementation," Heidi Hayes Jacobs, has worked with hundreds of schools to discover best curriculum planning practices. She finds doing too much at once and forcing subject overlaps the biggest obstacles to interdisciplinary curriculum planning. Moving to standardized…

In an interview author Howard Gardner explains how Harvard Project Zero developed assessment techniques for the arts. The program links production of art to perception and reflection. (MD)

John Bruer previously stated that "brain science has little to offer educational practice or policy" and urged attention to cognitive science. In conjunction with knowledge from other sources, neuroscience findings are yielding additional insights into the learning process. Educators should know about findings on enrichment, constructivism, and…

An interview with the director of the recently established International Center on Outcome-Based Restructuring explains that outcome-based education focuses on defining, pursuing, and ensuring success with the same high-level outcomes for all students. (MLF)

Ernest Boyer, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, assesses the limits of reform, formulates the substantive questions needed to move reform to a higher level, and proposes a convocation of educators to plan reforms for the 21st century. (TE)

Presents an interview with Elliot Eisner a scholar and researcher in both the arts and education. His work with the Getty Center for Education in the Arts has influenced a new structure for art curriculums. (Author/MD)

Research shows that adults respond primarily to positive reinforcement, want to be involved, and prefer to operate in a collegial environment. Traditional teacher evaluation violates many of these understandings. Fortunately, schools are beginning to experiment with observations and mentoring for beginning teachers and long-term…

Recent court decisions in Tennessee and Alabama requiring the teaching of "creationism" and the banning of "secular humanism" challenge educators to listen to the critics and present a wider curriculum including the role of religion in human affairs while protecting our heritage of intellectual freedom. (MD)

Discusses California's efforts to improve curriculum and assessment, including the new state frameworks in each subject area. California rejected existing math and science textbooks for being redundant and overemphasizing skills at the expense of meaningful application. New educational objectives are to prepare students for work, citizenship, and…

Educators have shown great interest in teaching thinking in the last five years. This overview introduces thinking skills instruction as the theme of this issue of "Educational Leadership" and distinguishes three different approaches: teaching for thinking, teaching about thinking, and teaching of thinking. (TE)