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)

Examines the contributions that participants in studies employing deception can make to the development of standards for research with human participants. The paper discusses enhancing the protection of human subjects and illustrates the value of cost benefits and participant-investigator partnerships on the basis of three published studies that…

Winshare is a gain-sharing system created to save a company. The program is based on the assumption that line workers know best how to do and improve their jobs. Employees are encouraged to suggest how to improve processes, reduce waste, or make their jobs easier. Employee teams are given the power and budget to implement changes. (JOW)

Discusses the nature of shared decision making and implementation of a facilitative and participatory management style in a school staff meeting. (SR)

The Virginia Curriculum Revision Plan, developed by Hollis Caswell and Sydney Hall during the 1930s, was showcased as a model that effectively involved teachers, students, and administration in a comprehensive educational improvement project. This article explores teachers' role in developing and adopting the plan and discusses implications for…