In a foreword introducing a book edited by Carson and Smith (1993), the position is taken that a viable partnership in school renewal should be considered by the principal and the library media specialist. Key elements are discussed in the foreword, and developed further in the book, that must be considered in developing such a team approach. The…

The problem of allocating increasingly limited funds appropriately in higher education is discussed in an introductory manner. The article describes the development of an allocation process that was developed and used in a college of education in making allocations of library/media funds to departments and program.

As a move to strengthen the preparation of and induction of first year teachers into the challenges of their chosen profession, the State Department of Education was making moves in the direction of providing additional support in that transitional process. Bradshaw with encouragement from his major professor who was involved in planning the…

The two authors from their respective leadership/administration and library/media specialist's backgrounds share their thoughts about a "Team Approach" to improved instruction. Basic elements of a shared approach are discussed with attention to the changing role of the library/media specialists in schooling.

The conversion of an "old school bus" in the late 1960s into a mobile library is discussed. The conversion was an element of educational service developed cooperatively between a regional educational laboratory and a rural school system. The project endeavored to improve the early experiences of future students, many of whom would have…

The author plays off the use of acronyms in education in describing the work of the Southeastern Educational Laboratory (SEL). The SEL was one of the regional educational laboratories established by the U. S. Office of Education in the late 60s to assist in the improvement of public education. It served Alabama, Florida and Georgia. The author…

A community college president brought a student affairs background with him as he assumed his first presidency. That perspective was an influencing factor in the organizational development initiatives at the institution in the first decade of his service. In this submission to the "Community College Times," he develops the position that…

A president describes the steps taken by his institution to communicate with interested parties that his institution is meeting its challenges as a transfer-oriented institution. Multiple survey approaches are discussed along with a number of qualitative approaches that contribute to the institution's ability to document its successes with…

A move away from the text book-based, class-room delivered, time-specific meetings, etc. was utilized in a graduate class in educational leadership. The more flexible approach utilized some of the emerging technologies with students responsible for selecting among multiple options. A group processing approach with self and peer evaluation and…

As the basis for his doctoral dissertation, Taylor explored some of the conjectures advanced by Halpin and Croft relative to the possible directional changes in the organizational climate of schools over time. Taylor limited his study to elementary school based upon the question raised by Watkins in his dissertation relative to the validity of the…

Cleveland, a former student and colleague of Watkins was aware of his earlier use of the Halpin and Crofts Organizational Climate Descriptive Questionnaire (OCDQ) at the school level in a school improvement initiative. Later as superintendent of a small city school system, Cleveland encouraged an elementary principal to utilize the results from…

The article discusses the development of an "alternative school" in an urban school system for students having trouble in the regular secondary setting. The program was based upon "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs" and is described in detail. The initial assessment of the program produced very positive results.

Since the publication of the highly influential "Coleman Report" of 1966, researchers have tried to find inputs, such as school quality, that are associated with student achievement on standardized tests, but have found little. This study finds an underlying association between Scholastic Aptitude Test scores and several measures of…

In his role as area head of curriculum and instruction in a major university, the author reacts to some disturbing data that seem to indicate that far too many teachers are not certain about their previous career choices. Less than 50% of the respondents in a national study indicated that they would select teaching again with 8 of 10 of those…

The articles describes the efforts of seven rural systems in northeast Alabama to respond in a cooperative manner to new initiatives from the State Department of Education to improve their inservice/staff development programs. The University of Alabama, primarily through its Gadsden Center, provided professional support and coordinating…