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 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)

Describes the positive effects of collaborative teacher teams. Such team efforts can produce good research, provide professional development, and encourage greater collegial interaction. Includes reference list. (MD)

In "The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization" (1990), Peter Senge shows how educators can achieve meaningful change and transform schools into self-renewing learning organizations. Organizations must develop five disciplines: personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems…

Within a generation, everyone will access calculators, word processors, and video cameras as easily as paper, pencils, and books today. Information technologies will predominate. People will be expected to use several symbol systems, apply knowledge, think strategically, manage information, and create as teams. Implications for educators are…

Sports participation can help young people appreciate health, exercise, and fitness; learn about themselves and handling adversity; and experience teamwork and sportsmanship. The key to a good high-school sports program is not winning, but student improvement. Athletic participation and achievement should not determine kids' social status. (MLH)

Rather than focusing on "proven" practices, Washington State University and the faculties of more than 50 schools have collaborated on Project LEARN (League of Educational Action Researchers in the Northwest) to enhance teachers' professional lives. Teams of teachers actively pursue the answers to their own teaching and learning…

For enhancing student achievement, the most successful cooperative learning approaches have incorporated two key elements: group goals and individual accountability. Positive effects have been consistently found on outcomes such as self-esteem, intergroup relations, acceptance of academically handicapped students, attitudes toward school, and…

Describes a social studies teacher's efforts to help junior high students deal with perceived problems of sexual harassment in the classroom. With a social worker's assistance, students learned to recognize personal and gender power issues and to distinguish between flirtatious behavior and genuine harassment (MLH)

In a letter to a Japanese university president, a French-Canadian educational administration student ponders the fundamental contradictions between the authoritarian, hierarchical Japanese education system and the Total Quality Management principles driving Japanese industry. The university president's reply explains how de-individualization,…

Representing English, history, geography, science, graphic arts, intermediate special education, physical and health education, and environmental studies, six Ontario (Canada) teachers cooperating on an integrated curriculum project found that their "separate" subject areas came together naturally in a theme approach to teaching. Success…

Preservice teachers must learn to work cooperatively with other adults. In practica, teacher educators can successful negotiate conflicts with team members and build on similarities by listening carefully to students' concerns, modeling respect and appreciation for challenges experienced by school staff, exploring the strengths of students'…

In Pennsylvania, instructional-support teams are being used as prereferral intervention groups to help teachers garner necessary school resources to meet students' increasingly complex academic, behavioral, social, and emotional needs. Onsite training elements include collaboration and team building, instructional assessment, instructional…

In 1994, the Institute for Responsive Education launched the Responsive Schools Project (involving 14 schools in Las Cruces, New Mexico; Flambeau, Wisconsin; Harts, West Virginia; and Chicago) to ask parents, teachers, administrators, and high-school students about educational reform goals. Respondents' divergent viewpoints underscore the…

Beland maintains that high school students will need a high level of skill in the social and emotional arena to be ready for competitive employment in the 21st century. In a 2006 survey, human resource professionals said five skills were most crucial to high school graduates' success: professionalism/work ethic; teamwork; oral communications;…