This document focuses on the challenge of building professional community within schools. The introductory article provides a definition of and rationale for "community within schools." The second article discusses some of the benefits that schools enjoy when they develop strong professional communities, and what conditions and resources make the…

Since 1990, a long-term study has been following the implementation of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) in 21 schools in 4 rural school districts. This publication summarizes study findings through 1995. Findings across KERA strands suggest that reform would have been unlikely without KERA's extra funding, used to increase teacher…

Managing and leading educational change entails a great degree of complexity and uncertainty and remains a pressing challenge for administrators. This work documents lessons learned from a national study on the concept and development of the Creating Communities of Continuous Inquiry and Improvement project of the Southwest Educational Development…

Recently, the traditional school structure has been harshly scrutinized for several key defects, including bureaucratic rules and regulations, professional isolation of teaching staff, evaluation systems irrelevant to instructional improvement, low teacher participation in decision making, and noncooperation between teachers and administrators.…

According to the author of this report, enthusiasm for inservice programs has been lacking, partly due to disagreement over program control and partly due to a perceived lack of relevance in the programs. This overview of a number of research and development projects suggests that the programs' relevance is the more important of these factors and…

This issue of the Australian Early Childhood Association Research in Practice Series provides staff management strategies for directors and others involved with the management of early childhood settings and suggests ways to effectively delegate authority and tasks in order to reduce administrative pressures and workload. The booklet presents…