Research suggests that professors of educational-leadership who come to university classrooms with broad public school administration experience are perceived by graduate students as more effective in teaching courses in school law, finance, and leadership theory. Retiring superintendents are advised about pursuing college teaching opportunities.…

Image-building consumes scarce resources without boosting school or student success. School districts should spend more time explaining their schools' mission and their efforts to support student achievement. Administrators should start at the top, talk to their people, and focus parent resources on learning. Web resources are listed. (MLH)

Instead of employing "inside-outside" marketing via inhouse brochures, newsletters, and websites, public schools should begin practicing "outside-inside" marketing in which strategic planning and then action comes from the marketplace (the community) to the school. Public perceptions are gathered through surveys, focus groups, and indepth…

Student mobility is associated with lower achievement and test scores and affects teachers, parents, and classmates at both departing and receiving schools. Some districts, like Fort Wayne (Indiana) Public Schools, calculate mobility and stability rates for accountability purposes. A sidebar outlines tips for promoting mobile students' gains. (MLH)

Offers five recommendations to revise state and school district certification, recruitment, incentive, mentorship, and training policies and practices that prevent many qualified women from becoming school administrators. (PKP)

Describes rationale and attributes of local assessment program to augment statewide testing programs. Describes several steps to develop and implement a local assessment program, including setting priorities and goals, meeting with state officials, developing budgets and funding sources, forming development teams, providing professional…

Describes the efforts of two educational institutions to reward teaching excellence using positive feedback rather than merit pay incentives. An Arizona district, drawing on Herzberg's motivation theories, offers highly individualized rewards ranging from computers to conference money, while an Illinois community college bestows engraved plaques…

Describes a Dade County (Florida) Schools pilot program to decentralize the district's schools and adopt teaching professionalization as a primary goal. Using various committees and task forces, the district formulated goals, developed a shared decision-making model, addressed management/labor issues, and provided team training opportunities. (MLH)

Discusses the recent rise in interest in the teaching of thinking skills. Presents brief outlines of eight school districts' successful thinking skills programs. All these programs were developed through careful attention to time and training and with an understanding that success is based on a long-term plan of action. (MD)

Describes Salt Lake City (Utah) schools' five instructional improvement goals, including clearly developed learning objectives, effective teaching and evaluation models, appropriate assessment tools, an energized classroom environment, and career leaders to attract and retain superior teachers. Discusses career ladder systems, focusing on teacher…

Successful administrators practice time management by delegating effectively and scheduling blocks of time to work without interruption. In addition, they set clear goals for meetings, avoid unnecessary meetings, and use weekly and monthly calendars. (MLF)

To recognize high performance administrators, a South Carolina school district has added a performance incentive to the basic salary plan for administrators. Criteria for comparing job targets that are selected by the administrators are based on scope, complexity, and anticipated impact. (MLF)

Describes current trends in drug and alcohol abuse prevention programs, including decreased emphasis on the school's role in prevention, increased interest in forestalling rather than treating health problems, greater involvement of celebrities in antidrug programs, and improved peer support mechanisms. Noteworthy national programs are cited. (PGD)

Discusses the necessity for the use of test score data in measuring school effectiveness. Outlines the types of tests best suited to particular schools. (MD)

Three leading experts on teacher evaluation agree that multiple data sources improve evaluation accuracy. A testing program for preservice and inservice teachers is cited. Semiannual testing (norm-referenced and criterion-referenced) of students is also cited as a way to evaluate teachers' effectiveness. (MLF)