In 1985, Vassar College initiated a summer program to introduce two-year college students to the educational experience of a school such as Vassar with the rationale that such exposure would improve transfer rates to four-year residential colleges. The program's initial goals were to: (1) identify community college students who, judging by their…

An elementary school principal's successful attempts to improve her inner-city school are described in this case study, which includes a diagram representing her formula for better education. The principal, a charismatic, elderly woman, takes an aggressive role in improving the school environment and student nutrition, encouraging and monitoring…

As part of an ongoing three-year investigation into the effects of declining enrollment and reduction in force (RIF) on teachers, this paper explores: (1) teacher acceptance of exclusive administrative control over performance evaluations, and (2) teacher preferences for colleague input into the evaluation process. A sample of 85 schools was drawn…

Major roles, relationships, and responsibilities of key individuals involved in supervising bilingual teacher and student teacher training are explored in this paper. The instructional team concept is explained as the basis for developing a program which requires that all individuals involved in the training of bilingual personnel possess a common…

The Netherlands' Basic School Education Act mandated that nursery and primary schools be structurally integrated into "basic schools" for children aged four to twelve by 1984. Inservice training courses, called IVB, were set up to prepare nursery and primary teachers for the new system according to the professional goals of continuity,…

Although skill in mathematics will be a crucial human resource in the future, there is a national disaffection with and fear of mathematics. To reverse this situation, all teachers should be required to have inservice instruction in mathematics, focusing on how mathematics supports and relates to specific content areas. Teachers' avoidance of and…

This paper briefly describes two projects--one in the United States, one in England--that studied professional learning communities (PLCs). Part I of the paper describes the two projects. The American project is called the Creating Communities of Continuous Inquiry and Improvement project. The purpose of this study was to document and examine…

This paper reports on research to determine how a school's organizational conditions and conception of teaming relate to teachers' sentiments about their work. The study proposes that people shape their beliefs and actions in concert with the structures around them. Study participants were 42 teachers at four suburban middle schools that had…

A course entitled "Communicating through Multimedia" was designed as a capstone experience for upperclassmen. It was a team-taught interdisciplinary course in the application of multimedia technology. Students in the course came from three disciplines--speech communication, mass communication, and management information systems. The…

This paper describes the use of cooperative teaching to teach all students in the general education classroom and the three most promising approaches to implementing cooperative teaching: team teaching, supportive learning activities, and complementary instruction. The first method, team teaching, is defined as having the initial presentation of…

Children with mildly handicapping conditions spend a considerable amount of their instructional lives receiving instruction from general education teachers. At the preservice level, efforts to assist general education teachers have employed one of two models--the inclusion of special education topics into general education coursework and a…

This report analyzes the effects of multiunit school organization on elementary teachers' patterns of task-related communication. Multiunit teacher work teams, or units, are characterized by discussions between teachers about the intimate details of their daily work; this contrasts with the structurally undifferentiated organization of…

In spring 1984, an interdisciplinary course on the history and literature of man's voyages and relationship with the sea was introduced at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College (JSRCC). The course was team taught from the perspectives of the social sciences and English departments, incorporating fiction and non-fiction sources related to…

In the course "Designs for English," high school students, working individually and in small groups, practice basic English skills as they explore universal themes. The course is built around 15 units that deal with a wide range of topics, including conflict resolution, communication, values, identity, and love. This paper describes how the course…

The history of consortia in American colleges and universities is traced, and the Wisconsin Improvement Program (WIP) is described as an example of a consortium. Additionally, the characteristics of formal consoritum arrangements are examined. The existence of a full-time professional administrator is one clear characteristic of a formal…