Mentoring is a creative alternative to direct instruction and teaching that provides an emotionally supportive relationship for the protege. Skills of the mentor travel with the protege long after the relationship has ended. Mentoring has become a vehicle to enhance the skills and abilities of one's associates, colleagues, and proteges. Typically,…

A collaborative faculty project was something of a failure for one instructor. About a year ago, the instructor invited everyone in the department to meet in her office every third week to talk about teaching literature and composition. The immediate concern was the use of writing in three general education literature courses that had been…

The mentoring of new principals by experienced principals is generally accepted as an important aspect of the transition to the position. Different countries may stress different aspects of mentoring and conduct training at different stages of the preparation process. In the United States and Singapore, mentoring occurs as part of the…

Designed to address writing problems experienced by researchers and managers, this book suggests practical steps researchers can take and effective actions managers can implements to cut costs, improve document usefulness, and upgrade writing skills. The book explains how to: (1) organize a technical/business document; (2) select information…

A study assessed how literacy professionals acquire knowledge as well as what knowledge they possess and value. A questionnaire was mailed to a random sample of K-12 teachers, reading specialists, administrators, library-media specialists, and teacher educators in the United States. Results were based on 1,519 responses and are discussed in terms…

Management science, as it has been defined in behavioral-structural frames in educational administration, cannot encompass the realm of leadership. The frames themselves eliminate that which is most important, that is, the interaction/communication of the idiosyncratic and complex personal/character/interpersonal dimensions between leaders and…

In shared decision making (SDM), principals collaborate with teachers and sometimes parents to take actions aimed at improving instruction and school climate. While research on SDM outcomes is still inconclusive, the literature shows that SDM brings both benefits and problems, and that the principal is a key figure. This brief offers a sampling of…

The Institute for Academic Leadership Development is a 2-semester practicum experience designed to help community college administrators gain leadership experience through the development and implementation of an Individualized Professional Development Plan (IPDP). The IPDP is designed to help participants gain a knowledge of self, capacities for…

A discussion of articulation in second language education between instructional levels looks at the current state of articulation, issues in the transition from secondary to higher education, and proposes a new approach that shifts the focus from product to process. Three forms of articulation are distinguished: vertical; horizontal; and…

This document presents findings of a study that examined the impact of teacher teaming on the implementation of a comprehensive program of curriculum and instruction. The program, Complex Instruction (CI), was implemented in four middle schools in the Riverdale School District (Arizona), each of which utilized some form of teaming instruction. CI…

Whenever educators gather to achieve a common goal, every participant should arrive with a sense of purpose and leave with a feeling of accomplishment. This book explains how to make meetings more efficient and effective. It outlines: (1) the correlation between excellent meetings and excellent results; (2) how to plan, open, conduct, and follow…

This document describes the principal's role in supervising a teacher mentoring program. It provides tips for guiding mentors and describes the characteristics of a good mentor. For example, mentors working with a novice should focus on three areas--the classroom, emotional support, and practical applications. Three styles of mentoring include…

The implications of decentralization reform on the amount of serious attention and effort that teachers give to teaching and learning activities are explored in this paper. The discussion is informed by the results of two case studies of school districts recognized as exemplary cases of decentralization. The first section describes limitations of…

This book explores the new roles required of principals of dynamic schools. The first chapter examines the following forces that shape principals' activities: teachers are becoming teacher-leaders; parents are more vocal and action-oriented advocates; student bodies are more diverse; the social and technological contexts of schools are more…

A study examined the relationship between Writing Centers and Writing-across-the-Curriculum (WAC) programs--central to the study was a survey designed to determine how writing programs are generally organized in higher education and how effective the people administering them judge them to be. The survey gathered information from 26 writing…