Empowering teachers to collaborate on schoolwide tasks and to work with one another on becoming more effective requires a new, more collegial administrator-teacher relationship. Factors such as time management, voluntary participation, power sharing, active administrator participation, and meaningful focus are important. (MLH)

A case study of Boston (Massachusetts) public schools shows how specialization and fragmentation of teaching resources reduced the individual attention most students received and limited a school's flexibility to respond to student needs. The analysis develops three measures as possible indicators of the opportunity for freeing teacher resources.…

Reports a study of 55 adolescents and their parents in which subjects documented their daily activities at 2-hour intervals for 1 week to explore emotional states associated with adolescents' time with their fathers. Fathers and adolescents both reported being together 15-19% of the time, mostly in leisure activities. (MDM)

A longitudinal study of 112 adolescents and their 2-parent families found that the quality father-adolescent relationships exhibited a high degree of stability over time, whereas the quantity of interaction was less consistent. Fathers tended to decrease their level of child care as their adolescents matured. (MDM)

The master schedule determines instructional time, use of space, student grouping, and teacher role. Currently, secondary school buildings are used like factories, and teachers can spend an entire career in the same classroom. Traditional, intensified, and flexible block scheduling produces master schedules with greater flexibility, less…

Three teenagers with autism, who relied on verbal prompts from the teacher to switch activities, were trained to independently identify transition times and to contingently self-reinforce the verbal identification of transition times. Accurate identification of transition time and self-reinforcement were maintained at one-month follow-up.…

Teachers dislike faculty meetings that seem time-consuming and pointless. Principals can help make faculty meetings more useful by holding meetings with a purpose, talking about teaching, planning meetings that fit teachers' needs, setting realistic agendas with printed time allotments, and ensuring that meetings begin on time and stay on track.…

Better organization and more efficient use of time are the key elements of a plan to boost student achievement at a Virginia district. Teachers focus almost all classroom time on direct instruction, guided practice, core courses, and applications to the real world. At the secondary level, teachers now also emphasize critical thinking and problem…

Discusses time management skills, noting that effective time management entails awareness of such things as how we use time and when our mental energy peaks and falls. Offers time management suggestions for day-care administrators such as developing a realistic "to-do" list, scheduling uninterrupted time to engage in important tasks, and limiting…

Time for teachers cannot be readily constructed and scheduled by reformers. Teachers need to construct their own time. The article examines different kinds of time for teachers, arguing that much of school reform will fail if it ignores the multiple constructs, boundaries, rhythms, and patterns of time for teachers. (SM)

Summarizes a study to determine principal's perceptions of their competency in primary responsibility areas and their greatest challenges and frustrations. Beginning principals are challenged by delegating responsibilities and becoming familiar with the principal's role, the local school, and school operations. Their major frustrations are role…

A Vermont elementary school principal offers advice to other schools attempting to revise their assessment approaches and stack their bulky armfuls (student portfolios) in a better load. Educators are advised to integrate portfolios into current classroom practices, share both the burden and the benefits, adapt portfolios to their own needs and…

Administrators who focus on school-community relations for an uninterrupted time daily or several times each week will strongly affect community relations, parental involvement, and, ultimately, student achievement. (MLF)

Continues a description of elements in the online searching process, highlighting: (1) search strategy formulation, including free text search construction versus controlled terminology, and terms and search statements; (2) the actual online search, including speed and cost considerations; (3) feedback or reviewing results; and (4) presentation of…

Although the amount of available time imposes limitations on accomplishment, the key issue is time usage. Effective classroom management conserves instruction time by planning activities and tasks to fit the learning materials; setting and conveying procedural and academic expectations; and appropriately sequencing, pacing, monitoring, and…