Presents a field-developed and tested method of comprehensive planning for program/project development. (Author)

Jefferson Meetings were developed in 1984 to provide an innovative way to teach students an understanding of the United States Constitution. Describes how to organize such an event. (MD)

Suggests techniques for planning and administering gifted programs, identifying gifted students, and gaining program acceptance. (JM)

The attitude and modeling behavior of the entire middle school staff is the most important factor in providing an effective school learning environment. Discusses program ingredients necessary to help staff members furnish authentic middle level education. Includes 15 references. (Author/MD)

Discusses development of the six components of any sound performance appraisal program: (1) explicit job descriptions, (2) definitions of key areas of responsibility, (3) criteria for performance appraisal, (4) methods for data collection and analysis, (5) written procedures, and (6) legal review of all procedures. (PGD)

Compares definitions and core elements of learning organizations promulgated by Peter Senge, Victoria Marsick and Karen Watkins, Nancy Dixon, Michael Marquardt, Mike Pedler, and others. Discusses leadership implications and the need for employees to create a new learning infrastructure incorporating new leaders, critical thinking, and envisioning.…

The counselor works in a difficult position, and school guidance programs are in jeopardy today. To develop meaningful programs, administrators must hire counselors who will meet the needs of the school and participate in the evaluation of program outcomes. (MD)

Presents a theoretical model of internal-external communications and an example of an implementation procedure based on that model. (Author/IRT)

Identifies eight competencies needed to implement a school public relations program and reviews some of the basic ideas associated with each competency. (Author)

Concerned about improving beginning principals' professional development, the Minnesota Administrators' Academy initiated an administrative mentoring program in the early 1990s. A recent evaluation found that successful mentoring relationships involved mutually respectful pairs that met at least monthly and participated in various activities…

Academic multiculturalism, an emerging educational trend, is a one-dimensional approach that adds a list of admirable persons of color to the existing curriculum. Political multiculturalism opens the curriculum to analysis and reconstruction of historical power struggles, including the social conditions and inequitable power relations behind…

Hewlett Packard has led the telementoring field with its Telementor Program, begun in 1995. The program creates one-to-one mentor relationships between HP employees and grade 5-12 students. Via e-mail, employees currently motivate 1,500 students to excel in math and science and improve communication and problem-solving skills. (MLH)

The literature suggests collaborative planning is purely egalitarian, but this article identifies a form called "dialectical collaboration" providing situationally determined variations in the locus of control. One district's experience planning an administrators' inservice program illustrates dialectical collaboration. The authors urge…

An effective administrator evaluation system builds in feedback opportunities, two-way communication, opportunities for improvement, enforcement of strengths, and a clear understanding of the system. The system must be valid, reliable, meaningful, useful, and feasible. Procedural answers to the why-what-when-where-what-who questions are discussed…

This article briefly critiques management by objectives (MBO) as a means of specifying administrator tasks and then describes the implementation of MBO in the West Bloomfield School District, Orchard Lake, Michigan. (Author/DS)