Can educational reform ever be achieved without some kind of catalyst to give the movement meaning and focus? The combining of human, technical, and financial resources through school study councils, with the proper leadership from principals, can bring together diverse units at multiple levels in education. (CJH)

Participants at a national conference on the school/college relationship make comments and recommendations in four areas: college admission policies, the role of testing in college admission, avenues for collaboration, and the impact of college admission standards on high school course enrollment. (MD)

Introduces some possibilities for treating the condition of the misplaced and dislocated adolescent. Reviews the development of street academies as one attempt to address the problems of out-of-school youth. Concludes that systematic efforts are needed to serve an ignored population. (Author/WD)

To further home-school communication and help parents resolve possible conflicts regarding their children, schools should have strictly reinforced guidelines. A checklist/question format is helpful. Parents should be encouraged to establish relationships with teachers, telephone the school if a conflict arises, forgo anonymity, and develop best…

Although school administrators lead one of the most important and largest national enterprises, the opportunities and incentives for acquiring the necessary leadership skills are limited. Courses in school finance are usually fairly general and seldom touch on school-site budget issues or identify which resources actually contribute to desired…

Describes one midwestern city's plan to encourage teachers with leadership potential to consider an administration career. Interested teachers participate in an Initial Skills Audit, a 2-day assessment center designed to provide individual feedback on each person's skill level. A self-assessment instrument provides performance rating estimates on…

For our students to become truly free, we must share with them our perceptions concerning freedom. Educators must stop "motivating" and begin inspiring students to use education as a means toward self-realization. Teachers and administrators should stop isolating themselves and experience the benefits of cooperation and collegiality.…

This collaborative six-step process to assess school climate involves consulting the district to determine problematic aspects; developing measurement instruments for the district; analyzing surveys distributed, administered, and returned by the district; reviewing results with school members; forming small groups to pursue findings; and…

Describes the Central New York Education Consortium's efforts to develop university-school district partnerships and devise a positive approach to ethical instruction. The group identified essential "schools of character" aspects, such as clean, orderly environment, constant curriculum evaluation criteria, administrator role modeling,…

To complement and strengthen its educational leadership program, East Tennessee State University, along with Brigham Young University, Florida State University, and Virginia Tech, formed a liaison with NASSP to help expand and refine administrative skills in decision making, leadership, sensitivity, problem solving, communication, judgment, and…

Describes a plan to assess 27 administrator candidates, drawing on a partnership between the Southwest Virginia Regional Assessment Center Leadership Academy and Virginia Tech's principal preparation program. Participants completed a reduced-item inbasket exercise, participated in leaderless-group and fact-finding exercises, and submitted a…

A study was conducted at two metropolitan South Florida high schools to determine perceptions of 100 teachers concerning block scheduling. Teachers felt that the 4 X 4 block schedule contained too many time gaps for teaching foreign languages, English, and math. Teachers believed block schedules benefitted advanced students more than others and…

Although violence prevention programs can be helpful, they are frequently poorly targeted and unrealistic about the social forces driving student behavior. Conflict-resolution training is effective when it occurs within a cooperative context, teaches students when a conflict is or isn't occurring, stresses concrete negotiation and mediation…

The author discusses a project that affords high school principals an opportunity to create collaborative relationships between members of their school communities and college-based teacher education programs. In its 13 years, this collaboration has been shown to increase student and teacher engagement: Students gain perspective on what goes into…

Describes a successful Minnesota program, developed to improve counselors' performance, that was adapted from a similar teacher program. Administrators and counselors share performance criteria to focus on significant counseling behaviors. Includes a list of performance evaluation criteria. (MD)