To produce self-reliant teaching professionals, the Ferrum College teacher education program requires portfolio presentations, extensive field experience, and "clinical cycles," a process whereby a team of peers and professors observes particular aspects of a student teacher's work. The student teacher assembles the team, sets time and…

In 1973, the founding administrator of a Long Island high school proposed adoption of a student advisory system, team teaching in the humanities, and no academic department chairs. Convinced that having chairs diminished teachers' stature, this principal successfully encouraged teachers to work together to develop curriculum, prepare budgets, hire…

Research and the lessons of practical experience suggest that successful interdisciplinary programs share a few key beliefs about teaching and learning. Important ingredients include time to plan, implement, and evaluate as a team; adequate resources; incentives for participants; talented and committed teachers; and patience and flexibility to…

The 18 junior high school teachers at the Ironwood School in Phoenix (Arizona) meet once a week as a team to engage in mutual planning, problem solving, and decision making. The team concept's success is owed to the active support of the school's administration. (PGD)

Drawing on NAEP assessment data and economic and educational arguments for restructuring, this article discusses the Holweide Comprehensive School experiment in Cologne, West Germany, and presents an Incentive Schools plan stressing team management, cooperative learning, and revamped assessment methods. Includes 16 references. (MLH)

In his February 2004 Kappan article, Mike Schmoker called into question the effectiveness of many of the major reform efforts of the past two decades. In particular he made the case that strategic planning efforts and whole-school reform efforts have been mostly ineffective because planning cycles are too long and implementation is too complex and…

Deming's work emphasizes advantages of teamwork, investment in ongoing training for all employees to increase their value to the company, and insistence that research and employee-gathered data guide and inform every decision and improvement effort. The parallel between psychologist Mihaly Csikszenmihalyi's work and Deming's shows that Total…

To circumvent typical public schooling restrictions, an upstate New York middle school established a Lab School that functions outside the regular program. Lab School aims to provide practice in intellectual inquiry, delve into complex, demanding topics, create an interdisciplinary, problem-oriented curriculum, and experiment with assessment…

The principal of a large Boston elementary school encountered 10 barriers to high student achievement. Examines why he and his staff struggled with those barriers for most of his 15-year tenure at the school. Believes the turning point came when Massachusetts mandated high-stakes tests. (MLF)

Adults participating in a Los Angeles "school family" network will be engaged for the next several years in the Annenberg Challenge--a national reform initiative aimed at improving student performance. Participation offers opportunities to develop a coherent K-12 education plan, access extra resources, and pursue collaborative…

State accountability systems that are based on test data and the No Child Left Behind Act have put educators under great pressure to improve their students' scores on standardized tests. Much has been written about the possibility that school faculties will resort to "drill and kill," a response that will reduce the quality of children's…

A former superintendent explains the value of teamwork for solving problems involving bus passes, budgets, and faculty attrition. His continuous-quality-improvement initiatives sparked creative impulses while underscoring the importance of redesigning work procedures and giving people the time and encouragement to be inventive. (MLH)

The goal of school/university partnerships is the simultaneous renewal of colleges of education and of K-12 schools. In theory, this improvement comes about as university and K-12 faculty members work together to mentor preservice teachers in the best possible environment. Ideally, as they participate in these collaborations, the faculty groups do…

This interview discusses control theory (based on humans' psychological needs for love, power, freedom, and fun) and its potential for transforming students' classroom learning experience. By adopting the teamwork approach used in extracurricular activities, teachers can help students gain satisfaction and a sense of their own importance. (MLH)

Democratically oriented school leaders are challenged to establish shared missions, work as change agents, collaborate with colleagues, consider all constituents, and perceive and elucidate theory-practice connections. This article explains the Institute for Educational Inquiry Leadership Program's plan for developing these five critical…