Teacher collaboration and engagement in policy offer hope for improving teacher recruitment, retention, and morale-and for reenergizing the profession. Unfortunately, teacher engagement in education policy is woefully lacking. Research has shown that 70 percent of teachers feel out of the loop in district decision making. "Everyone at the…

"It's always been a promising time for teacher leadership. It's just never been a successful time," writes noted educator Roland Barth. Why? Barth points to five obstacles: administrator resistance, the taboo in teaching against elevating oneself higher than one's peers, the fact that teachers' plates are full, the…

An approach to leadership that is a combination of elements from prominent models states that decisions reflect personal knowledge and values, as well as perceptions of the situational variables of people, role, task, and organization. (Author/MLF)

Responds to Robert Slavin's criticism of the Hunter model by listing recent research projects validating this teaching strategy. Defends the Hunter model as an effort to change teaching decisions based on tradition and folklore to theory based on judgments and wisdom. (MLH)

Educators at Bowling Green State University found that trying to apply a corporate model of strategic planning in a college environment was very difficult. This article recommends choosing metaphors carefully, anticipating undesirable side effects, and creating a need to know. Using noncorporate metaphorical models may prove effective. (six…

The alternative futures approach helps administrators identify signals of changes and emerging discontinuities in sectors of the external environment that require their attention or response. ED QUEST is a strategic planning model integrating futures research techniques and divergent thinking methods into a participatory group process that…

Discusses current educational efforts to enable students to make high quality judgments, and argues that fostering critical thinking and decision-making must be a high priority objective if education is to be responsive to today's needs. (JG)

Project Read, which began 10 years ago as a collaborative reading strategy, has evolved into the Inquiring School model. This model arose from the realization that critical literacy strategies and structures work equally well in kindergarten, sixth grade, peer coaching, or at faculty meetings. Key elements are improved classroom practice,…

The Teacher Involvement and Participation Scale, version 2 (TIPS 2) helps schools assess eight dimensions of the decision-making process, including goals/vision/mission; facilitating procedures and structures; curriculum/instruction; budgeting; staffing; staff development; operations; and standards. This article explains additional applications…

Describes the development of an authentic assessment model identifying 14 complex thinking processes. Two teachers designed a task allowing high school students to demonstrate their biotechnological knowledge and simultaneously deploy a complex thinking process (decision making). This model required students to synthesize and integrate what they…

To address the social challenges facing schools, administrators must revitalize the work culture. Borrowing from successful business practices, the School Management Institute has implemented a 25-day Managing Productive Schools leadership training program in Florida, Minnesota, and Virginia. The program is based on the cultural conditions,…

New roles for teachers in curriculum development conflict with traditional expectations. Constructing curriculum involves teachers' individual flexibility and collective uniformity. This article presents a curriculum-inquiry model that integrates elements of educational practice often dealt with in isolation (instruction, curriculum, assessment,…