Describes a process used by an architect to work with the stakeholders of a school in Iceland to design a new building. The process, called "design down," starts with the biggest issues and moves toward more detailed aspects. It starts with looking at the school's learning signature, learning expectations, the learning process, and the…

Using the example of the construction of Fond du Lac High School in Wisconsin, discusses how multi-layer reviews of facility plans and drawings by staff members and the community help ensure a positive outcome. (EV)

Brief descriptions are given of projects and activities in 10 school districts involved in reform efforts which give teachers greater responsibility for decision making. New roles for teachers and the involvement of technology in restructuring schools are discussed. Sources of additional information on restructuring are included. (IAH)

School districts such as Dade County, Florida; New York City; Petaluma, California; Hammond, Indiana; and Boston have restructured their schools and are using some form of win/win bargaining to achieve this goal. If the schools, unions, the teaching profession, and collective bargaining can continue to evolve together, restructuring could become a…

Defines self-managed work teams as small groups of co-workers who share tasks and responsibilities of a well-defined segment of work. Discusses internal and external leadership, the role of the administrator, the coach, and the advisor, and organizational considerations. (JOW)

Describes a systemwide participatory planning model designed to facilitate improvement of secondary learning disabilities programs. The model had three phases: central program planning and description, school-based program planning, and implementation and evaluation. This program generated a sense of shared ownership and direction among one…

Summarizes strategies and techniques of effective bargaining that will empower the negotiator in virtually any bargaining situation, whether personal or collective. Sources of bargaining power and their applicability to particular negotiations are described, with emphasis on librarians as negotiators. (CLB)

Discusses the importance of communication in rural social development. People-centered development planning looks at the creative initiative of people as the primary resource and their materials and welfare as the end. (JOW)

Examines two criticisms of the politics of collaborative learning. Argues that consensus can be a powerful instrument for students to generate differences, identify systems of authority that organize these differences, and transform the relations of power that determine who may speak and what counts as a meaningful statement. (MM)

Dynamic home-school-community partnerships established through site councils can help produce improved schools that serve their communities better. Parents on the council must be careful to represent diverse segments of the student body. Members need both proper orientation and a constitution to be effective. Includes three references. (MLH)

Four elementary schools, 10 third-grade teachers, and their students (n=168) participated in a quasiexperimental study to determine the impact of individual versus collaborative planning and traditional versus problem-focused curriculum on students' learning of multiplication. Results favored collaborative planning and problem solving. (MKR)

Discusses impediments in collaboration between college researchers and teachers. Using case studies, the paper describes how differences can enrich research initiatives and enhance the collaboration. The paper examines "fair trade" as a beginning for negotiations between outsiders and insiders, highlighting the negotiation of fair roles…

Action-reflection learning (ARL) is a learning-by-doing alternative to expert-based training. In an ARL program, training becomes a project in which learning takes place while participants try to solve a work-related problem. The process is always conducted in teams. (Author/JOW)

Successful diversity trainers should (1) distinguish education from training; (2) position training within a management strategy; (3) not start prematurely; (4) conduct needs analysis; (5) use participative design; (6) pilot test; (7) balance internal and external resources; and (8) incorporate programs in a core curriculum. (JOW)

Selected issues relevant to evaluating women's studies programs (WSPs) are discussed. Focus is on criticisms of traditional forms of assessment expressed by feminists and nontraditional evaluators, illuminative evaluation as an alternative approach to assessing WSPs, and a new model of evaluation termed "participatory evaluation." (TJH)