Research indicates that school organization factors may be as important in explaining and managing school discipline as classroom techniques. The key to developing an environment conducive to good student deportment is a total school effort facilitated by a highly visible principal. Includes 11 references. (MLH)

Asserting that informing parents about the discipline policies and procedures in their children's schools will reduce misunderstandings and inappropriate expectations and encourage parent participation, this article outlines specific methods principals can use to communicate discipline information to parents. (PGD)

Prevention of teenage suicide and coping with it when it occurs is an increasing concern for middle-level principals. This article focuses on specific implications of the youth suicide problem for middle-level principals with considerations for other principals as well. (Author/TE)

Maintaining the necessity for schools to develop public relations and fund raising programs, this essay offers a true-false quiz to familiarize school administrators with some of the issues involved. (MJL)

An expanded definition of the English curriculum includes a discriminating study of the dominant media in our culture: film, television, and even computers. (Author/JM)

Teachers need training and support to revise their instructional practices to address the Information Society's needs. Districts must commit substantial resources to help teachers gain necessary skills and understanding. Considerable expertise is needed to establish an appropriate technological infrastructure and use it effectively. Traditional…

Describes Provo (Utah) School District's efforts to establish instructional leadership roles for its principals. To achieve instructional improvement goals, Provo principals are expected to provide leadership in four fundamental areas: staff development, curriculum review, clinical supervision, and evaluation and assessment. Includes four…

When asked to mentor or to participate in field-based, collaborative administrator preparation programs, principals should realize that these energy-intensive approaches involve willingness to enter into a long-term relationship with a learner, tolerance for lengthy meetings, desire to share the lessons of experience, and a predilection for…

Cultural leadership is an essential foundation underlying successful instructional leadership activities. Careful use of cultural assessment helps principals identify contextual barriers shaping the outcomes of otherwise effective instructional change interventions. Cultural brokerage not only protects these improvements but promotes and…

Mastery or "second chance" learning is easily adaptable to the principal's modeling through the classroom observation/supervision process. The five-step process (preobservation conference, performance of observation, postobservation conference, professional growth plan, and observation) helps teachers own the classroom observation process and…

Educational change must be facilitated, not dictated, to be successful. Since most new curriculum programs ignore complex classroom realities, teachers usually view them negatively. Facilitative principals create the necessary conditions for change by progressing through three stages: creating new roles and expectations, mobilizing proponents for…

In full-service and community schools, principals must possess a collaborative attitude and strong boundary-spanning skills. Principals must believe that collaboration can address children's complex needs, be able to obtain and distribute information strategically, view problems imaginatively, craft solutions, and develop and support others'…

A case study explored availability of collaboration benefits and the difficulties teachers experienced in attaining them in a traditional comprehensive high school that hosts a career academy and a school-within-a-school. Administrators should encourage teachers' voluntary participation, allow adequate planning time, provide training, and increase…

Reviews research on characteristics of quality teachers, methods for improving teacher quality, and student and teacher behaviors that are indicators of teacher quality. Draws implications for principal hiring and mentoring practices. (Contains 30 references.) (PKP)

Describes origin and elements of the standards movement. Reviews research on grade retention and social promotion and concludes that both are failed strategies to improve student achievement. Describes principal's role in meeting standards. Discusses the use of systemic and classroom interventions to help students meet state standards. (Contains…