A high school principal explains her strategy for turning around a disorderly, gang-ridden middle school. Her discipline plan's success hinged on developing schoolwide expectations for behavior, developing positive consequences, compiling a list of unacceptable behaviors, and empowering teachers to administer consequences, including contacting…

Culls the opinions of reform thinkers, school executives, and teacher union officials to provide an inside look at what teacher empowerment means for the schools. A sidebar summarizes the 1986 Carnegie report's key recommendations and union-led reform initiatives. Another sidebar provides trust-building tips. (MLH)

Beginning and veteran teachers are experiencing gross professional neglect. Teachers have been passive far too long about their own professionalism. The National Education Association is currently working with seven teacher-preparation institutions to reinvent teacher education and professional development. As Columbus, Ohio's peer-review program…

Presents a model for enhancement of teacher empowerment and self-efficacy in which the school social worker facilitates a teacher peer-coaching program. Tested in a preliminary study in two urban schools, the model led to teachers more often seeking and giving advice and to the identification of systematic (versus child-centered) problems. (Author)

Describes programs of the National College for School Leadership (NCSL). Introduces three articles dealing with leadership in urban schools and those with challenging circumstances that emerged from work supported by NCSL. All three articles explore the concept of distributed leadership. (PKP)

Describes the problems inherent in scoring performance assessment on a large scale, focusing on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and scoring for Israeli students. In spite of the weaknesses in the scoring approach, the effort seems to have empowered teachers. (SLD)

Discusses conflicts and tensions related to teacher autonomy in the context of the Swedish comprehensive school system. Presents two models for strengthening the relative autonomy of teachers that can help them meet the challenges inherent in change. (SLD)

The relevance of the teacher to the success of any education innovation is not open to contention. Equally incontentious is the relevance of education and training to the success of the teacher in the attainment of his/her professional goals. It is against this background that this paper examines the continuing education imperatives in the present…

The issues of teacher empowerment and decentralized management have been a part of the educational reform agenda for decades. Recent legislation has required that leadership teams have teacher, support staff, and parent representation, and possibly student representation. Principals receive specific instructions from their Boards of Education as…

Considered a successful university-operated, urban middle school serving an overwhelmingly African American student body, "Charter" Middle School was dechartered suddenly, then merged a year later with students from a neighborhood school to become "Choice" Middle School, a school of choice in the urban district. Using a situated learning framework…

In New York City, a $25 million Annenberg grant was targeted to 100 individual schools to empower their staffs via innovative networks and accountability structures. However, the changes that graced the proposals did not create the desired momentum. Targeting school-level groups cannot in itself lead to systemwide change. Problems arose from…

Through sharing and collegiality, teacher empowerment, and effective leadership, the principal and staff at DeKeyser Elementary School, in Sterling Heights, Michigan, have created a culture for change. The school's cultural elements include Tuesday meetings, planning sessions, schoolwide themes, cross-age teaching, schematic displays, and…

For site-based management to succeed, supervisors must progress from advising teachers to empowering them to make classroom changes. The author changed her communication style by becoming aware of the subtle yet powerful role of communication in school leadership, discovering how unconscious scripts interfered with empowerment efforts,…

The superintendent, a central-office supervisor, the principal, and an external consultant began discussions to address the specific needs of an elementary school in Scottsboro, Alabama. The process involved completing a pre-assessment and feasibility study, developing and introducing a staff-development change model, creating an action plan,…

Discusses the importance of empowerment for early childhood teachers. Maintains that empowering early childhood teachers increases motivation, allows for an emergent curriculum, and bridges home and school. Notes that empowering teachers to manage their own classrooms involves extensive on-site training and support but that as teachers grow in…