One first-grade teacher integrated character education into the existing curriculum. She used a job chart to teach responsibility and teamwork, and helped the class develop a constitution. Her framework was based on the Character Counts! Coalition's crucial character traits: respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, fairness, caring, and…

When Joanne Rooney, a principal, asked 17 tenured teachers who were due for their formal supervisory visits at Pleasant Hill School in Palatine, Illinois whether her annual visits and follow-up conferences help them become better teachers," her question was met with muffled laughter. They knew that her rushed, mandatory visits and conferences…

The fates of schools are increasingly intertwined. What leaders do in one school necessarily affects the fortunes of students and teachers in other schools around them. Exemplary or high-profile institutions draw the most outstanding teachers and leaders, draining them away from other schools that, in time, become low-status places in which…

Describes the National Education Association's Mastery in Learning Project. The project was designed and piloted in six elementary and secondary schools in different regions of the United States in 1985-86. Plans have been made for a three-year demonstration project in 24 schools in 1986-87. Includes references. (MD)

Describes the Arts in Education Program developed in rural Pennsylvania schools. It is made up of educational leaders, artists, community members, university faculty, teachers, students, board members, and an Arts in Education staff. The team works to improve the quality of life and education for students through the arts. (MD)

The basic functions of teacher centres now are to help teachers in curriculum development and solving classroom problems, to serve as information centres, to back up resources of schools, and provide social and professional interchange between teachers; it is hoped they will grow to provide broader views of the philosophy and practice of teaching.…

Wright State University in Dalton, Ohio, seeks to serve and relate to the Dalton community by working toward harmony and educational renewal with the public schools. (DS)

Cites examples of unique role colleges can play in teacher staff development. (DS)

A collaborative relationship among teachers, parents, students, and citizens can educate students more successfully than the present antilearning educational bureaucracy. (Author/MLF)

Development teams in Hawaii are using local emphasis, teacher training, and field support to create successful new curriculums. (Author)

The Annehurst Curriculum Classification System (ACCS) identifies curriculum materials compatible with student learning characteristics. The development of the ACCS and its use in Annehurst School in Westerville (Ohio) are described. The system originator explains how schools are using it and what researchers have discovered about the quality of…

Describes a social-constructivist model of professional development arising from a collaboration between Southwest Texas State University's education department and New Braunfels (Texas) Independent School District. Teachers learn technology integration techniques from an instructionally strong "first-generation" of teachers trained at a…

Over 750,000 U.S. school-age children are homeless. Schools can eliminate attendance and environmental barriers sabotaging these children's education by becoming communities of learning that provide specialized education for children, contextualized education for parents, and linkages to needed services. The Bronx's Brownstone School, Chicago's…

To enculturate the young and help them reason successfully, teachers need appropriate pedagogical and school renewal skills. An interview-based survey disclosed chronic prestige deprivation in the teacher education enterprise, lack of program coherence, theory-practice separation, and stifling bureaucratic regulations. Three promising…

The Houston Teaching Academy, sponsored by the University of Houston College of Education and the Houston Independent School District, prepares student teachers for inner-city classrooms while simultaneously giving practicing teachers access to new research and instructional strategies. One survey showed that academy student teachers learned to…