Recounts difficulties experienced by an Ohio principal who chaired his district's contentious boundary-realignment process. The community was divided over dispersal of heavily concentrated low-income students to other schools within the district. In hindsight, this principal would have had someone take minutes, selected a more diverse committee,…

A Georgia superintendent (and former teacher) angered board and community members by calling in federal authorities to help eliminate de facto segregation in two schools serving 1,200 students. At issue were a discriminatory track system and unintegrated cheerleading teams. Sidebars explain the U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights…

Because AIDS will probably remain a significant force, schools must revamp inadequate HIV prevention programs. Schools should focus on HIV risk behaviors, help students make more realistic risk estimates, emphasize skill development relevant to HIV-risk situations, use data on normative peer behavior, devote more classroom time to HIV education,…

Inclusion is not a place, but an educational philosophy that encompasses curriculum and instructional practices, school culture and organization, and school staffing patterns. This article examines the superintendent's role in creating inclusive schools, highlighting planning, implementation, training, parental involvement, budgeting, and…

Last July, the New Initiatives Division of Sandia National Laboratory, a nuclear research center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, presented its findings on U.S. education to the U.S. Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education. Current dropout rates, test scores, college attendance, educational expenditures, educator status, work…

The entire concept of shared decision making can be accommodated into collective bargaining if the parties involved begin by building trust and deal with matters outside of the contract. Community Consolidated School District No. 34 in Glenview, Illinois, has had apparent positive results in shared decision making. (MLF)

The challenge of maintaining the richness of cultural diversity will be won or lost in the 1990s. Necessary ingredients include revamping curricula; building cadres through staff diversification, new teaching strategies, and teacher retraining; offering teachers incentives for community involvement and second-language study; and fostering parent,…

Marvin Cetron's new Book, "Educational Renaissance," highlights the various disconnected attempts to heal schools and school systems. Merit pay and lengthening the school day and school year are crucial components of future economic success. Other predictions concerning students, teachers, higher education, school finance, families, and…

Designed by a leading public health administrator, the Violence Prevention Curriculum for Adolescents tries to raise teens' violence threshold by creating a nonviolent classroom ethos and extending students' repertoire of responses to anger. An ideal schoolwide program teaches social skills and features peer-mentoring and conflict resolution…

Since 1991, the National Education Commission on Time and Learning has been examining the quality and adequacy of student learning time. Innovations being considered address provision of additional learning opportunities, children's well-being, employee productivity concerns, and efficient use of school facilities. Promising practices include the…

Advocates of participatory leadership, site-based management, and decentralization often assume that changing decision-making group composition will automatically improve the quality of decisions being made. Stakeholder satisfaction does not guarantee quality results. This article offers a framework for moving the decision-making discussion from…

Charter-school proponents overlook three overarching concerns. Funding must come from existing school budgets; charter-school populations are more homogeneous than in most public schools; and the constitutional separation between school and religion will be compromised. Studies in California, Arizona, and other states reveal accountability and…

Created in 1987 by the International Organization for Standardization, in Geneva, Switzerland, ISO 9000 is attempting to develop a world standard to help companies and other institutions measure and monitor their quality-control efforts. This article describes four school districts' successful efforts to secure ISO 9000 certification. (MLH)

Inspired by tips from a Motorola Corporation executive, the superintendent of an Illinois district initiated strategic- planning and total-quality practices to improve student performance, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency. Teachers have also successfully implemented quality and continuous-improvement practices in their classrooms.…

Although prevailing research indicates that holding back students carries negative effects, retention is becoming ever more popular. Administrators seeking secure funding for retention alternatives face considerable resistance, while the decision to add a full year of expenditures for a retained student is made without considering budgetary…