In the assessment-driven environment of today's schools, questions about effectiveness and impact on student learning often focus on the school as a whole. An often-missed piece is taking a critical look at specific programs and approaches. Program evaluation is a tool that can help do this. Program evaluation can help to answer a range of…

Principals can improve programs by becoming science advocates (to teachers, students, and parents), constructing and pushing a science curriculum plan, ensuring annual funds for science materials, providing needed inservice experiences, monitoring the program, and handling likely problems. A 73-item checklist is provided for evaluating current…

The head of a firm that specializes in developing, operating, and evaluating after-school programs for schools and districts provides a useful guide to their planning, staffing, and sustainability. (Author)

Describes and evaluates six common and/or empirically validated school-based substance-abuse programs, including Here's Looking At You, 2000; Developing Understanding of Self and Others (DUSO); Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE); Growing Healthy; QUEST; and Social Decision Making--Social Problem Solving. QUEST had all 11 key program elements;…

Makes a case against bilingual education. Describes bilingual program designs, discusses research findings indicating that bilingual programs are unsuccessful, and suggests reasons for their failure, including lack of staff, inadvertent linguistic segregation, and Mexican-Americans' feudal, agrarian cultural background. (RW)

Principals can successfully implement whole language reading programs if they educate staff and parents; engage in effective, inclusive long-range planning; encourage sharing among teachers; incorporate flexibility and experimentation in program development; and create an appropriate program evaluation system. Staff involvement is the key to…

Describes 10 warning signals of potential or actual problems within a school's talented and gifted education program. Eight references are appended. (IW)

Inclusion-oriented schools should define their philosophy, form a committee, develop a written plan, provide early staff development, review children's individual needs, develop program modifications, and prepare parents and students. During the second year, schools should implement a pilot program, provide ongoing staff development, and evaluate…

Lists and discusses 12 components of special education programs that principals and special education teachers can incorporate in new programs, can review in existing programs, and can use as a basis for developing goals for teacher evaluations. (PGD)

Makes a case for bilingual education by citing program and research results and by comparing bilingual programs with English as a second language programs. Suggests why some bilingual programs are less successful and notes the importance of principals for educational programs. (JM)

The principal and vice-principal of a California elementary school describe the eight critical elements that helped them develop a model expanded-day program at their school: identifying needs; sharing a vision; fostering staff ownership; investing in staff development; creating partnerships; linking learning to state standards; measuring and…

Describes character education, selected research related thereto, and a character-education program at Columbine Elementary School in Woodland Park, Colorado. Describes assessment results of this and other character-education programs and curricula. Includes 11 principles of effective character education such as promotes core ethical values and…

Advises first-time conference attendees to be adventuresome about meeting new people, consider shared transportation and accommodations to save money, take along appropriate clothes, choose sessions offering new skills and information, get invitations to parties, provide positive feedback about programs, and plan postconference activities with…

A principal need not be a musician to supervise a music program. Supervisory emphasis should be on elements of the musical process that can be taught, reinforced, and evaluated. At the core of the instructional program, there should be a method book, behavioral objectives, and a graded course of instruction. (MLH)

Describes a four-step process principals and teachers can use to examine and coordinate the coverage of curricular content at each grade level and to ensure that areas of omission and unnecessary duplication are minimized. (PGD)