After joining a statewide project to encourage continuous improvement in education, the City of Burlington (New Jersey) Public Schools tackled high school attendance problems, using a seven-step process based on defining reasons for improvement, assessing the current situation, performing a cause-and-effect analysis, formulating countermeasures…

Professional study groups have been a dominant feature of the Richmond County (Georgia) Schools' educational improvement efforts since 1987. Study groups offer a structure that turns all individuals into learners eager to assume responsibility for their own learning and that of colleagues and students. The principal's active participation is a key…

Analysis of Bush Foundation regional programs in faculty development resulted in conclusions concerning the characteristics of successful development activities. It was found that grants encouraging teamwork are more productive than isolated grants for scholarship. Guidelines are also needed to assist in faculty evaluations and prepare faculty for…

While Principal Norman Higgins was speaking at an out-of-town conference, his high school faculty voted to cancel final exams for seniors and hold a morale-raising picnic. Although some principals dole out site-based power only grudgingly, Higgins takes his coordinator role seriously and delegates loads of responsibility. This article details…

Development of home-school partnership programs involves encouraging parental participation through communication of mutual respect, sharing ownership, sharing problem solving, agreeing upon roles and responsibilities, assessing home variables, acknowledging the home as a naturalistic setting, and promoting prosocial student behavior. (JDD)

Notes that firms no longer want college graduates with "just" high intelligence quotients, 4.0 grade point averages, technical expertise, and high ambition but are also looking for team players. Reviews economic and societal trends that have contributed to this shift in organizational psychology and examines characteristics of workers who are most…

It is argued that the traditional model of the heroic leader is no longer appropriate for complex higher education institutions and that presidential power should be limited to participation in a leadership team. Leadership is seen as the creation of partnerships between and among constituencies. (MSE)

The use of preaward agreements between the industry and the university collaborating to seek external funding, particularly from government sources, is examined. The agreements describe the parties' obligations in seeking funding and lay the groundwork for subsequent research agreements. Elements of such agreements are discussed to raise awareness…

A Cambridge, Massachusetts, alternative public school has devised a Student Support Team to assist families in trouble or in crisis situations. Close connections with the state's Department of Social Services, the city hospital's Haitian Mental Health Unit, the Cambridge School Volunteers Program, and Harvard University student volunteer programs…

A survey of 110 private colleges and universities elicited information about the traits presidents regarded as ideal in members of a strategic planning team. The profiles drawn closely match those of "early adopters," a personality type found effective in facilitating acceptance of innovation in nonacademic settings. (MSE)

Self-directed work teams need coaches, not managers. The process of turning middle managers into coaches involves sensitivity, negotiation, and training in adjusting to the new role. (SK)

Deming's 14 principles, which have revitalized Japanese industry, can help restructure the education workplace. Administrators should agree on future goals and priorities; adopt a cooperative, "lead management" philosophy; cease dependency on mass inspection; constantly improve production and service; institute training and retraining;…

For inclusiveness to foster growth and cultural enrichment for all its members, teachers need much more than classes on handicapping conditions. Teachers must be prepared through preservice and inservice training to enter a new school community where all students are valued and expected to learn. Syracuse University offers a task force or teaming…

Special education has effectively rescued many individual children, but its cost has drained resources required to improve classroom instruction for all children. Following the medical model of diagnosing the patient and prescribing remedies must yield to a systems approach to intervention design. Coteaching integrates children into regular…

An intact work unit of 17 corporate managers participated in a 3-day adventure training program to develop teamwork and group unity. The unit improved significantly on 8 of 10 items of the Team Development Inventory, administered before and 2 months after training, relative to an intact control group. (SV)