The newsletter describes the staff and training activities of the Teaching Research Infant and Child Center which consists of two national model centers--Early Education for the Handicapped Model and a Severely Handicapped Education Model. It is reported that staff training procedures developed at the Boulder (Montana) River School and Hospital…

"New Things Considered" reports on emerging trends and issues in education to policymakers and participants in SEDL-SCAN, an emerging issues tracking system being pilot tested by the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory's Policy Information Service and the State of New Mexico. This issue presents brief summaries of the thinking…

Professional development is viewed from several perspectives--time, funding, planning, and student outcomes--and includes both an urban and a rural story. This issue provides a special pullout section designed as a checklist to help guide professional development planning activities. The following articles are included: "Perspectives on…

Two challenges that confront principals attempting to generate effective collaborative planning time with teachers are examined in this document: altering the conventional schedule and ensuring productive use of planning time. Principals, superintendents, and other educators were interviewed about the techniques and outcomes of these two aspects.…

School camping began with three movements in American society: children's camping, which has been traced back as far as 1823; the Nature Study Movement, which is thought to have begun as early as 1839; and the holistic "new education." In 1940, L. B. Sharp opened National Camp in New Jersey and Julian W. Smith initiated the Clear Lake…

This document offers three articles reporting research and practice on the use of paraeducators to provide support to students with disabilities and their teachers. Emphasis is on research funded by the Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs. The first article notes the increasing use of paraeducators to provide…

This newsletter presents the results of a National Governors' Association (NGA) survey, conducted November 1986 through January 1987, on state responses to the recommendations of the NGA Task Force on Technology regarding new ways to acquire and use educational technology. The following topics covered by the survey are discussed: (1) hardware…

This serial issue contains 12 articles on the theme of "Professional Development," specifically about how teachers in the Bread Loaf Rural Teacher Network (BLRTN) are fostering their own and each other's development as teachers. The BLRTN consists of approximately 260 rural teachers in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky,…

An examination of literature in the field of staff development reveals five models of inservice for principals. The traditional model involves enrolling in courses at colleges and universities. Institutes are short-term specific learning experiences. Competency-based training identifies knowledge and skills needed and focuses on influencing…

This summary of a meeting of the Apple Education Advisory Council, on long range technology plans at the state, county, district, and school levels, includes highlights from group discussions on future planning, staff development, and curriculum. Three long range technology plans at the state level are provided: Long Range Educational Technology…

This issue contains several articles synthesizing research on effective schools conducted by the Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory (McREL). Six "folios," or handouts, intended for dissemination to teachers, review the research and make specific suggestions for teachers on: (1) beginning the school year; (2) time management; (3)…

This bulletin edition provides a side-by-side comparison of: (1) statutory provisions of Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, as modified by the Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1990 (Public Law 101-476); (2) the U.S. Department of Education's explanation for regulatory changes proposed to implement the…

The following major activities are discussed to guide educators through the complexities of curriculum organization. The first, defining outcomes, includes: (1) exit outcomes that express broad educational goals; (2) unit objectives; and (3) lesson objectives. The second major activity, developing learning units, includes: (1) opening lessons; (2)…

In 1984, the Swedish National Board of Education inaugurated a major research program on decentralized school administration. The research undertaken at the University of Lund focused upon regional and local school administration: county education committee, local education authority, local education office, and head teachers. Results are…

Activities in three of eight school districts that linked testing and evaluation data with instructional decision-making matched the seven components of management information systems. Each district had a unique system that focused, respectively, on student achievement, school improvement, and staff capacity building. (MLF)