Letters of recommendation too often do not tell recipients what they need to know about a candidate. The letters may address irrelevant qualities of the candidate or they may discuss only vague generalities. Faced with this problem, many employers prefer telephone interviews; however, people in higher education continue to rely on letters of…

Recommendations are presented for dealing with difficult students and the questions they ask during classroom discussions. Brief ideas are provided for handling argumentative individuals, long-winded questioners, and questions for which the instructor does not have a good answer. A discussion of curved or loaded questions (pseudoquestions)…

Offers examples of four common mistakes school boards make when dealing with the press. Suggests 10 specific steps for building a strong working relationship with members of the press. (IW)

Recommendations for improving communications skills are offered. It is stated that the process of communicating involves passing information and understanding from one person to another; a one-way process of sending out information is not good enough. To help principals communicate more effectively with their staff, recommendations are offered on…

The paper examines staff and parent advocacy training for special needs preschool and Head Start children. The author outlines the rights and responsibilities as stated in federal and state legislation, and the aspects of advocacy not usually considered, such as maximizing the resources to provide an appropriate program. Suggestions are given for…

Explores factors that may help parents understand and correct their adolescent's misbehavior in school. Discusses the communication process and the need to delineate clear expectations. Suggests the use of logical consequences for changing behavior. Reviews principles of behaviorism and discusses the parent-school relationship. (RC)

Discusses communication problems in industries with a multilingual and multicultural work force, with suggested approaches for an industrial language trainer to follow when investigating communication channels and in organizing language training programs to remedy inadequacies. (MF)

Describes seven main power tactics used by teacher unions in strike situations. Recommends a program of advocacy communication strategies that school boards can follow in fostering positive community relations before and during a strike. (IW)

This handbook is designed for use by trained educational diagnosticians and special educators as they go about the complex task of identifying students with perceptual/communicative disabilities (PCD) and determining eligibility for special education services. Section 1 of the text discusses federal criteria for determining the existence of a…