The strong emphasis on staff development stems, at least in part, from studies of innovation that profilerated in the wake of "A Nation at Risk" (1983). Current guidelines for staff development provide specific information about instructional strategies that promote student achievement, and the kinds of interventions that help teachers…

Given that faculty advising plays an important role in college level retention, this paper examines three possible forms of faculty advisor-student relationships--paternalism, agency, and contract--and found the contract form to be superior. The paternalistic model in which the advisor assumes responsibility and authority for decision making was…

This two-part document reports on the summative, district-level evaluation of 33 Dade County (Florida) schools that participated in a 3-year pilot School-Based-Management/Shared Decision-Making (SBM/SDM) program, and describes the operation and impact of selected innovations operating in some of the schools. Evaluation information was drawn from…

This study compares parent participation in a suburban New York school district with parent participation in five Chicago city schools. Section one provides an overview of the study, which was based on an examination of external innovations (such as laws, court orders, and new programs) that created new bases for parents to become involved in…

This document defines contrasting assumptions about the labor force--theory X and theory Y--and shows how they apply to the pyramid organizational structure, examines the assumptions of the two theories, and finally, based on a survey and individual interviews, proposes a merger of theories X and Y to produce theory Z. Organizational structures…

Options and suggestions for setting up successful study commissions were gathered from 10 commissions that had recommended revisions of state educational policy on a variety of issues. Composed of respected citizens from across the state, each task force was created by the governor or legislature for a fixed duration. Some recommendations for…

The empowerment of teachers through collaboration, a supervisory trend currently receiving much attention and emphasis, employs variability and encourages cooperative decisionmaking. Despite its apparent popularity, collaboration can be viewed as unwieldy and difficult to manage with teachers who are already working under less than desirable…

A class council can collectively decide what components will make up the instructional system in an elementary school class. A class council is a friendly assembly made up of the students and the teacher; it meets to discuss and make decisions about all aspects of the instructional system, including objectives, grading, and materials. Each student…

A description is given of a faculty development program that is run by the faculty of the McCallie School, a private secondary school in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Three principles guide the program: (1) the quality of the educational program is the responsibility of the entire school community; (2) faculty that shares the responsibility for the…

For all students to become responsible citizens and productive workers, the nature of "effective learning" and the characteristics of schools providing it must change. This report reviews the value and potential of various proposals to change the instruction of at-risk students from a pedagogy of minimal basic skills to a pedagogy of…

The processes by which school leaders can institutionalize staff and organizational development, with a focus on initiating school restructuring through team development, are described. Three features are necessary for implementing school restructuring through team development: a deliberate plan for staff involvement, a positive work environment,…

Recent educational reform efforts have sought to restructure schools, changing the character of school culture and creating a need for a nontraditional approach to inservice teacher education. Inservice projects have been implemented which attempt to prepare practicing teachers for restructured schools and as participants in the restructuring…

Effective leaders operate with three different styles: manager-as-technician, manager-as-conductor, and manager-as-developer. The first two work well if the manager remains a hero, but this heroic style diminishes the subordinates' own capabilities and confidence and is counterproductive to change. The post-heroic manager, or manager-as-developer,…

The functional and organizational activities of the Cooperative Extension Service in the United States can be an appropriate means for providing a new image and concept to the kind of extension service that is needed in developing nations and Sri Lanka in particular. The problems of the extension program in developing nations are inherited and…

The collegial ideal of shared authority is needed as community colleges move into the 1990s. The impact of the Rodda Act of 1976, which introduced collective bargaining into California schools and colleges, has been significant and has changed the form and substance of collegiality to include willingness to change one's position, to seek…