This booklet briefly presents some of the results of a study of the relationship between school districts and "reform support organizations" (RSOs). RSOs include a range of public, quasi-public, private for-profit, and private nonprofit organizations that seek to engage or are engaged by school districts in systemic reform efforts. The study…

This document presents a national strategic plan for preparing capable and qualified personnel to educate students who have visual impairments. The plan focuses on three main goals: (1) to increase the number and diversity of qualified personnel to serve students with visual impairments; (2) to increase the number and diversity of qualified…

Conflicts and disputes, a normal part of the day in every preschool center, provide young children with important opportunities for learning. This 24-minute videotape illustrates 6 problem-solving steps that adults can use to help children resolve conflicts successfully: (1) approach quickly and calmly, stopping any hurtful actions or language;…

This action research project sought to improve the social skills of targeted first-, third-, and fourth-grade students. Students demonstrated an inability to collaborate with others, a disregard for the feelings and opinions of others, a lack of responsibility, excessive noise, incomplete assignments, unnecessary physical contact, inappropriate…

This action research project sought to improve social skills in targeted elementary students. The problem of poor social skills was documented by means of data revealing the number of students exhibiting inappropriate behaviors. Students exhibited a lack of social skills through: inappropriate manners, lack of cooperation, not occupying one's own…

This action research project sought to improve the social skills of targeted third-, fourth-, fifth-, and seventh-grade students in order to improve their classroom performance. The students' lack of social skills was documented by means of teacher observation checklists, teacher and student surveys, and past disciplinary records. Objectives of…

This paper describes an anger management group implemented with students in grades 7-12 enrolled in an alternative school. The majority of students at the school were identified as having difficulties managing their anger and handling conflict. The goal of the group was to have students understand their relationship with anger in order to…

This document outlines the Strategic Planning Initiative (SPI) for New Jersey's Salem Community College. This is the first plan the college has authored in seven years. The report provides a theoretical framework for heterarchical planning, which allows for complexity and interrelations of structural analysis, and lateral decision making. The…

The conference papers examine higher education reforms in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe from several research perspectives: political, economic, pedagogical, and sociological. Papers are organized in three sections: Higher Education Policies and Institutional Change; Central European Higher Education in Transition; and Higher…

These two case studies were commissioned by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) as part of its Western Policy Exchange (WPE) Project, in an effort to understand the dynamics and perceived consequences of a "state roundtable" approach to fostering partnerships in education in order to advance systemic change and…

This report discusses the accomplishments and challenges of the Vermont Self-Determination Project (SDP), a 3-year project designed to empower individuals with developmental disabilities to create the quality of life they desire for themselves and, by discovering and sharing their natural gifts and talents, to nourish and enrich both their own…

This book focuses on brain-based research to explore why boys and girls learn differently and how educators and parents can use that information to create the ultimate early childhood, elementary, or secondary classroom for both boys and girls. Part 1 of the book presents research findings from three primary points of view: (1) neurological and…

In June, 1999, the U.S. Departments of Justice and of Health and Human Services convened the National Summit on Children Exposed to Violence, bringing together experts to develop a framework for understanding and addressing children's exposure to violence. This Summary describes that framework, presenting an action plan that outlines principles…

This action research project evaluated a program to improve students' ability to resolve conflicts. Many students of the targeted third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade classrooms lacked a well-defined sense of classroom community as well as the ability to resolve conflicts peaceably. Research indicated that specific skills needed to be taught. For this…

Universities and academics today are facing challenges that require more active and self-interested management. The book argues that higher education in the future will not become any more ordered, but will actually become more complex, more fractured and less bounded, and that academics will have to respond with new ways of thinking. The book…