The Leadership and Inquiry for Turnaround (LIFT) initiative in Utah supports turnaround leaders' development and builds resilience and capacity of school leadership teams to thrive and lead their schools to improvement, even in the face of major challenges and adversity. This article describes how professional learning can help mitigate the…

State volunteer forums can be an invaluable resource for providing opportunities for volunteer training on positive youth development. Some western states have experienced decreasing attendance and have questioned the practicality of hosting such forums. In this article, we showcase successes that one western state has experienced as a result of…

For most of his career, the author served as a registrar at Brigham Young University. He has come to understand something about leadership and what it requires to really make a difference in the lives of students as they pursue their education and life dreams. In this article, he shares lessons that he hopes will be beneficial to all his…

The Brigham Young University-Public School Partnership (BYU-PSP) has been serving K-12 public schools in Utah for 29 years. The Partnership includes five school districts, BYU's David O. McKay School of Education, and the seven arts and sciences colleges at BYU that participate in preparing teachers. This article describes the structure of the…

Nearly all campuses are determining ways by which they could internationalize the curriculum to connect their campus with the world. While study abroad programs are quite common, a less used mechanism that makes this important connection is a global leadership program. At the University of Utah, one innovative program is the International…

Building faculty or professional learning communities is an idea that has come of age. This article describes work being done within the Brigham Young University (BYU)-Public School Partnership to form and sustain such communities across higher and public education and in ways consistent with the four aims of the Agenda for Education in a…

Describes the successful principal training program developed as a partnership between five Utah school districts and the Brigham Young University College of Education. It uses a modular curriculum and includes an internship under a mentor principal. A sidebar outlines the ten core competencies. (MD)

A 1984 partnership between Brigham Young University and five Utah school districts resulted in a new principal preparation program that integrates theory and practice and provides meaningful practice opportunities. The Leaders Preparation Program includes several NASSP-sponsored workshops allowing interns to experience, in a safe but challenging…

Children benefit academically when parents and educators work together. For this reason, parents' involvement in their children's education is a priority of the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001." But a strong connection between parents and educators does not come about automatically. Both parties may need to learn new roles and skills…

The Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico-Rural Systemic Initiative (UCAN-RSI) supports systemic improvement in science, technology, and mathematics education for all rural students in the four states, focusing on schools that enroll large numbers of American Indian and Hispanic students. This document contains a report on UCAN's 4th year (September…

Describes the Snowbird Leadership Institute (Utah), a program of leadership training for librarians who are at an early point in their professional careers. Participant selection is described; the mentoring component is discussed; and major topics covered by the institute are described, including self-knowledge, creativity and risk taking, and…