Examines factors influencing removal of unsuitable teachers in 30 North Carolina school districts. Describes the proportions of teachers being removed from classrooms, the variables affecting teachers' involuntary separation, opinions regarding tenure, administrative competence, separation methods, and implications for policy and practice.…

Linda Page ("A Conservative Christian View on Values," this issue) has given education leaders a partial philosophical foundation for character education in our schools. Although the list of six character traits is useful, her prescription falls short of what is needed. There is no ideal program. Character education should be built into…

School administrators are advised to welcome charter schools. Superintendents should incorporate charter schools into their overall strategy, be boosters, provide visibility and recognition, neutralize hostile allies, make central office staff available, establish contact persons, and expedite financial matters. If academic achievement fails to…

According to a survey of 46 recently departed Michigan school superintendents, departing superintendents can announce their intention to leave and still maintain a viable leadership role. Lame-duck superintendents should help the board think through the superintendent-selection process and review possible promotions, recognize staff achievements,…

Stylistic friction between superintendent and school board underlies much of disharmony that often characterizes these relationships. The most successful matches occur between high corporate-type boards and high task-oriented superintendents or between high familial-type boards and high relationship-type superintendents. Friction reduction or…

Most adults would agree that the AIDS threat has reached crisis proportions and that strong measures are required to control the spread of HIV among adolescents. Although abstinence offers the best protection, teens exposed to risks must protect themselves with knowledge, skills, and access to latex condoms. High school condom distribution is…

Efficiency denotes left-brain (management) activity, involving concrete sequential thinking, whereas effectiveness denotes right-brain (leadership) activity involving creativity and vision. As executive stewards, school administrators must exhibit both management and leadership capabilities and engage both brain hemispheres to articulate and…

Committed to outcome-based education, the superintendent and board of a central California school district proceeded to stabilize the environment, develop a research-based belief system, align an outcome-focused curriculum, and implement a staff development program. To stem opposition to OBE, mastery learning, and criterion-referenced assessment,…

Summarizes a study of 225 cases between 1990 and 1994 involving sexual abuse or harassment complaints against teachers. Interviews revealed how districts respond to complaints and the most effective preventive policies and procedures. School districts with rare occurrences screen prospective employees, have strong and clear policies, educate staff…

Although no pressing rationale for the AASA's new standards for superintendents exists, the standards set worthwhile practice standards covering the instructional, managerial, and political roles that every superintendent must juggle with various constituencies. Failure to hold superintendents accountable for student outcomes is understandable but…

The 1940 school discipline list, a "national teacher survey" of the top seven offenses has been extensively cited by outspoken school critics. The list, along with its 1990 counterpart, has been traced to T. Cullen Davis, a wealthy Texas businessman-turned evangelical Christian/education lobbyist. The conflation of school discipline with social…

The Outcomes Driven Developmental Model, the centerpiece of the National Center for Outcome Based Education, is the only system of total organizational change operating in schools today. The National Center is committed to educational success for every child through creating school environments empowering every individual to achieve excellence.…

School leaders and policymakers are increasingly challenged by vocal, well-organized opponents to progressive practices, curricular approaches, and recommended textbooks used in school classrooms. Two superintendents disclose their strategies for managing lawsuits involving a Michigan school health program and an Ohio district's adoption of the…

For many administrators, retirement does not usually provide flow of accomplishments and satisfaction because small emotional gratifications of day at work are gone and time suddenly seems too open-ended. Superintendents need to pursue something that keeps them vibrant physically, intellectually, and emotionally. For some, work is tonic.…

Chronically poor teaching by marginal staff is damaging to a school. Inept and ill-prepared teachers lose control of their classrooms, generating a ripple effect throughout the school and the community. Principals must erase this mediocrity by effectively salvaging marginal performers possessing training deficiencies or personal problems and…