The Duke University (North Carolina) experience using adventure-based or wilderness learning programs for staff development is discussed, focusing on the program rationale, planning, common responses of participants and nonparticipants, and outcomes. Quotations from program assessments are included. A brief list of relevant industry resources is…

This article examines critical staff development issues that must be addressed if cooperative learning is to produce quality implementation across classrooms. Staff development programs should consider teacher ownership and governance, teachers' levels of concern regarding education innovation, formats for training, relevance of ecological impact,…

Stewardship is the willingness of the leader to serve for the well-being of the school, rather than through controlling stakeholders. Stewards are capable of turning their schools into learning organizations, in which all stakeholders share a feeling of ownership. This book is a sequel to "The Principal's Edge," which covered the first 9 of the 21…

Educational policies for gifted programs are often developed as the result of being under fire by either the public, parents, or the district. Such policies are often ill-conceived because they have been created under pressure rather than rational thought; therefore, this booklet reviews the content and organization of a sample program manual for…

Two checklists intended for directors and aspiring directors identify tasks involved in starting and subsequently operating a day care center. Lists may need to be modified to accommodate state and local regulations, specific community requirements, and individual needs. The "Start-Up Checklist for Day Care Centers" is a list of typical tasks…

Effective schools research offers administrators evidence of teaching methods that enhance student achievement; imparting this knowledge to faculty through staff development is essential. A solution to the problem of interrupting classroom time for staff development is to utilize teacher time in a nonthreatening method that is collegial in nature.…

The skills, understandings, and attitudes necessary for an effective instructional supervisor were identified in the literature (using, for the most part, those materials written since 1975). Twenty-six elements were identified and clustered into six areas for a self-evaluation instrument that can give supervisors a means to describe and analyze…

This three-part report provides a literature review on the evaluation of community college staff development programs, reports on a study conducted to identify and validate evaluation criteria, and suggests a process for the use of these criteria in program evaluation. Part I reviews literature focusing on staff and program development,…

Designed to propose ways for the Colorado Department of Education to provide leadership in the implementation of a statewide educational telecommunications network, this study examines ways in which telecommunications can be used by the state department of education, school districts, libraries, and other informational or educational agencies to…

Research evidence clearly indicates the need to improve the school administrator's effectiveness as a key factor in educational reform. One difficulty is balancing administrators' wants with organizational needs. Inservice education planners' examination of these wants and needs led to the client-based needs assessment process described in this…

This paper describes an inservice training project in Colorado funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The goal of the project is to create a self-sustaining and expanding network of trained leaders in geographic education. The project addresses: (1) the need to improve and expand the geographic literacy of U.S. citizens; (2) the…

This paper is designed to help educational leaders improve their decision making strategies (and correspondingly educational practice) by evaluating their own strategy in concert with a model proposed in the paper. The proposed model provides educational leaders with an enhanced context within which one can effectively analyze and evaluate…

A detailed report is given on the mechanics involved in conducting a successful bi-regional workshop for educators. The theme of the workshop was designed around two Research Within Reach (RWR) documents dealing with oral/written communications and secondary mathematics; however, papers and discussion generated by the workshop are not included in…

The C.A.S.E. model (Conceptualization, Acquisition, Staff Development, and Evaluation) provides a management model for introducing computers into a preschool program for handicapped children over a period of 4 years. Each of the four model components are described and practical applications provided. (Author/DB)

The article details aspects of a collaborative administrative style in a special school for gifted children, describing the function of administrators and other adults as role models, the sharing and delegation of decision making, a team approach to professional growth and support, and accountability through a "rich rules" system.…