The Western Massachusetts Five College/Public School Partnership was organized to strengthen communication and share resources among the schools in western Massachusetts and the members of a higher education consortium called Five Colleges, Inc. (comprising Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges and the University of Massachusetts…

This paper introduces a rationale and format for the introduction of microcomputers into the classrooms of British Columbia on a cost-effective basis. The three purposes of the paper are (1) to briefly present the activities of the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC); (2) to describe in general terms how British Columbia might…

Describes the Minority Student Achievement Network, a consortium of 15 school districts with significant achievement gaps between white students and their African-American and Latino counterparts. Network includes school districts from Massachusetts, Michigan, Virginia, California, North Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, New Jersey, and New…

The Puget Sound Educational Consortium went beyond the typical school/university partnership by endeavoring to change both the university and the schools. Such partnerships succeed when structures emanate from productive activities. Forging a culture of collaboration means creating a vision, developing opportunities for leadership and learning,…

School leaders are trying pay incentives, consortia, and temp firms to assuage their need for qualified substitute teachers. Five coping strategies include making the job more attractive, increasing the candidate pool, hiring some permanent subs, using automated calling systems, and examining systemic issues. Substitutes are unionizing in some…

Discussion of role of school library media centers (SLMCs) in multitype library networks notes five basic factors that contribute to their exclusion from library networks: psychological, political and legal, funding, communication, and planning. Examples of programs attempting to reduce barriers to school participation in library networks are…

Describes a service system designed to deal effectively with conflicts caused by decreased enrollments, reduced school revenues, increased cost of district operation, and demands for more information by federal, state, and district personnel. (Author/MA)

A federally funded consortium project, the American Foundation for the Blind's Deaf-Blind Project, has produced "Hand in Hand" products for students who are deaf-blind. Reasons for using a consortium model, consortium structure, roles, distinguishing features, and advantages/disadvantages are discussed. (DB)

A consortium of four Wisconsin school districts has decided to stop tinkering with the educational system and apply W. Edward Deming's 14 management points to total system improvement. The rewritten precepts involve creating and adopting a fitting purpose, infusing quality into the educational "product," and working toward zero defects…

Chartered in 1990 by a consortium of 14 universities an colleges in the Chicago area, the Teachers Academy for Mathematics and Science aimed to improve the inservice training and professional development of K-8 math and science teachers. The accompanying Comprehensive School Development Process has four phases: readiness, instruction,…

A consortium of St. Louis-area school districts, college career officers, and consultants developed an online teacher and administrator recruitment/job-application system that has gone statewide and is being used by nine other states. Next is a nationwide job bank to help districts recruit educators. (MLH)

This paper, which presents some ideas about establishing a consortium of institutes for development and research in Europe, is aimed at institute management personnel and was written especially for a meeting in The Hague, the Netherlands, in December 1989. The word "consortium" expresses organizers' view that institutes can profit from…

As school populations decline and costs rise due to inflation, rural and small schools are turning to shared services in order to keep community schools open, meet federal mandates, and improve educational opportunities. Sharing ventures may be for limited purposes, such as sharing a physics teacher or having a joint drama production, or for more…

Public school districts in Mississippi established the Program of Research and Evaluation for Public Schools (PREPS) to provide good research and evaluation data for sound decision making. A cooperative arrangement was developed with the College of Education at Mississippi State University. PREPS staff directed research and evaluation activities…

Cooperative purchasing programs among school districts have grown rapidly in the past decade, but significant questions remain about the benefits and drawbacks of such programs. This document presents the results of a project sponsored by the Association of School Business Officials for the purpose of addressing these questions. Comprising…