Documents Virginia's history of adoption and implementation of block scheduling, highlights common forms of block scheduling, and describes mistakes that caused schools to abandon block scheduling. Describes three key variables (time, teachers, and students) in the use of block scheduling to improve student achievement. (PKP)

Describes how school-improvement teams can employ organizational and systems-analysis techniques to determine the root causes of low achievement. Cites Peter Senge's "Schools That Learn." (PKP)

Discusses the soul of leadership, including basic principles such as a leader is the symbolic soul of the group. Describes the essentials of leadership using the acronym LEADERS: Look and listen, Empowerment, Awareness, Doing, Emotional freedom and empathy, Responsibility, and Synchronicity. (PKP)

Argues that moral and spiritual leaders strive to make a difference in the lives of students; to reduce the achievement gap in one's school, district, and the larger educational environment; and to foster growth opportunities and leadership in others. (PKP)

Superintendent of the McComb Separate School District in Mississippi describes actions taken by his school district to implement an effective student health program. Includes, for example, getting community buy-in, building on community leadership, supporting health and wellness for everyone in the school. Briefly describes the nine components of…

Describes growing problem of truancy in American schools and what some states and school districts are doing to keep students in school. (PKP)

Describes how three Wisconsin school superintendents used the process of situation appraisal and decision analysis to improve their problem-solving and decision-making capabilities and those of their leadership teams. Provides several examples. (PKP)

Confronted by last fall's budget crunch, President Bush and the Congress agreed to ignore the deficit, revise the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings budget reduction process, and focus attention on capping total spending. Domestic programs will be allowed a $12 billion increase. Education's position is unclear, because it must compete with farms, bridges, and…

A survey of 835 former superintendents showed that the greatest superintendent turnover (16 percent) occurred in the smallest districts. Tenure was also affected by school board stability and expectations, salary, gender, educational attainment, district per pupil expenditure, age, ethnic background, and other variables. (MLH)

Presents a technology-planning framework for administrators that facilitates development of a strategic plan. The process includes planning the planning, benchmarking the current status of district technology use, envisioning future trends, identifying stakeholders' needs and wants, developing the technology model, identifying resource…

As Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools' experience shows, school districts can deal constructively with research proposals seeking school system data by asking prospective researchers to reduce the school system's burden; protecting the individual privacy of staff, students, and families; upholding the normal school schedule; and ensuring…

Drawing from the work of Henry David Thoreau, urges us to see the relationship between the individual and his/her community. Thoreau had three chairs in his cabin: one for solitude, one for friendship, and one for society. Like Thoreau, school leaders could make a career of exploring the tension between public and private imperatives. (MLH)

A technology audit compares a school district's plans and expectations for technology with actual deployment and use. The audit addresses information systems; operational environment; administrative, teaching, and learning applications; student, finance, and human resources systems; technology; infrastructure; office automation and productivity…

Describes how school-building exteriors and interiors should be designed, built, and renovated to prevent vandalism. (PKP)

Story explains how a new superintendent's observation that children do the hokey-pokey differently shapes the district's agenda for achieving educational accountability and equality in a school district with a diverse population. (PKP)