Instead of trying to imitate high school programs, staff at many U.S. middle schools are working to transform school climate, become more sensitive to adolescent needs, and experiment with team arrangements, new schedules, advisory programs, and other organizational patterns. This article uses three case studies to illustrate new approaches to…

Student suicide is a most painful and potentially disruptive event. All schools need a crisis plan that will shore up students and faculty, provide timely intervention, intervene with parents, establish communication guidelines, involve the community, and get the school back on course. A sidebar discusses suicide prevention programs' effects on…

The old adage that "they won't care until they know we care" is pretty accurate in education. This is true of the staff as well as the students, their parents and the community. The highest-achieving classrooms are ones where the students trust, respect and care about their teacher because that teacher trusts, respects, cares about and expects…

"Altering the normal flow" is the statement in Larry Lezotte's article (in same issue) that best describes changes in Illinois school district. Although district was well run when new superintendent took over, its internal change process geared toward learning for all proved more challenging than cooperating to pass a tax referendum.…

The mission of the Rum River (Minnesota) Special Education Cooperative is to help local school district staff integrate students with challenges in regular education settings. Currently, almost all children attend a home school in their local communities. The expanded opportunities in regular classrooms have raised disabled students' expectations…

Educators' most pressing leadership challenge is tapping each individual's full mental capacity and evoking the highest levels of quality, performance, and productivity. Building learning communities depends on resolving issues related to quality and excellence, governance and restructuring, organizational linkages, diversity as capacity, better…

Views school reorganization as best achieved through school-based management, featuring transformational leaders, school effectiveness teams, school strategic plans, school-site budgeting, and school performance reports. Describes a Dallas County (Texas) district's efforts to create a mission, review organizational structure, and adopt strategic…

The principal as all-knowing patriarch and problem-solver is passe. Today's principals must be team builders who can inspire a diverse group of professionals to cooperate. Principals need a leadership vision and strategic planning skills. Superintendents should teach principals how to dream creatively, conduct environmental scans, assess…

For inclusiveness to foster growth and cultural enrichment for all its members, teachers need much more than classes on handicapping conditions. Teachers must be prepared through preservice and inservice training to enter a new school community where all students are valued and expected to learn. Syracuse University offers a task force or teaming…

To embed ongoing learning opportunities in routine school practices, superintendents must help schools create the collaborative cultures that enable teachers to work together, engage in collective inquiry, and learn from each others' experience. Suggestions for fostering quality staff development, clarifying priorities, and improving capacity are…

One of the current education "buzz phrases" speaks to the creation of professional learning communities to build the capacity of staff. Learning organizations are described as "where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where…

Despite serving growing numbers of at-risk students, Pasco (Washington) School District has been transformed through outcome-based education into a district widely recognized for quality. Pascoe's OBE process demanded a school vision and mission statement; intensive teacher retraining; implementation of mastery learning, reality therapy, and…

Effective followership (mirroring a leader's mission) involves several strategies: concentrating on becoming a team player, demonstrating a strong work ethic, adhering to high individual expectations and possessing high self-regard, projecting optimism, and practicing interpersonal intelligence. (MLH)

The superintendent of Jefferson County Public Schools (Kentucky) describes an administrative restructuring process that removed layers of bureaucracy and dramatically improved principals' and teachers' shared decision-making opportunities and increased their enthusiasm and commitment. The key is willingness to take risks and remaining open to new…

Some school systems are taking fresh approaches to school change, experimenting with using teams within school as change vehicles, rather than relying on innovative individuals or attempting to convert whole faculty at once. Principal is usually a key team member. Established practices are usually challenged once a team has been built and charged…