Telephone interviews with several California principals and superintendents disclosed inconsistent principal-evaluation procedures. Principals said they were concerned about possible negative influences of covert superintendent and/or board agendas and district micromanagement of schools on their evaluations. Strategies for improving practice and…

No matter what standards they follow, principals must be skilled team builders, instructional leaders, and visionary risk-takers. There are five emerging roles: historian, cheerleader, lightning rod, landscaper (environmental scanner), and anthropologist. To succeed, principals must be empowered by districts, become authentic leaders, and make…

In 1998, over 400 principals surveyed by EdSource reported they are struggling to satisfy increasing job demands. They would like to spend less time on budget, maintenance, and administrative details and more time on being instructional leaders and working with parents. Principals would like more budgetary control. (MLH)

Californians have identified the health of public education as top priority. The legislature's search for accountability (focused on student assessment) has not been based on a cohesive school-improvement model. Legislators must work with educators to reexamine the entire education system. Educators must push for rational policy. (MLH)

School districts often lack the capacity for turning vast amounts of existing student-performance data into useful information for helping teachers and improving classrooms. The California Accountability Project helps districts to function more systematically on behalf of children and to understand schools' pockets of success and underperformance.…

The Association of California School Administrators and the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association are cooperating to provide a formal, systemwide approach to coordinating and aligning curricula. The Curriculum Management Audit Center sponsors training programs to help districts determine how well they are designing and…

Through its Challenge 2000 program, Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network's 21st Century Education Initiative has been working with K-12 schools to improve student performance in literature, math, and science. Clearly stated standards, appropriate assessments, formal monitoring, critical friends, and systemwide accountability are keys to success.…

Former California Governor Pete Wilson's "social promotion" package, requiring districts to adopt new promotion policies based on state-mandated test results, is misguided. All retention or promotion decisions should be supported by multiple forms of evidence. Test scores should be buttressed by other information, such as grades and teacher…

Presents samples of strategies some California schools use using to help students not meeting grade-level standards. Programs include "Success for All," individualized learning plans, afterschool tutorials, a parent math-refresher course, personalized assignments, and literacy labs. Program funding, evaluation methods, results, and contact persons…

To relate strategic-planning goals to assessment and accountability, the Sacramento City Schools measure reading and math goals against scores from the Stanford Achievement Test, ninth edition. District assessment practices recognize the need for balance in types of assessment, alignment with standards and instruction, and assessment-information…

Confronting low student performance, staff at a central California elementary school tackled curriculum-alignment problems; identified available instructional, support, information, and human-resource processes; and dealt with the language issue. The school's "Student Portfolio and Assessment System" helped teachers discover feasible teaching…

Suggests a child's overall development is what makes academic learning possible. Notes that intelligence, the capacity to gain and use knowledge to solve problems and promote well-being, is comprised of cognitive, affective, and expressive components. Asserts that children need relationships with caring adults. Notes the School Development Program…

Daniel Goleman, author of the bestseller "Emotional Intelligence," spoke at the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development annual conference about children's declining emotional health indicators. He noted that emotional well-being predicts success in academic achievement, employment, marriage, and physical health; and that schools…

Addresses attitudinal and logistical roadblocks to launching social and emotional learning programs. Debunks ideas that such programs are either faddish, ineffective, "New-Age," or detractions from academic learning. Stresses conceptual origins in the work of Daniel Goleman, Howard Gardner, and Robert Sylwester. Notes educators must work to…

Proposes sex education, a necessary and appropriate undertaking for public schools, be presented in a broad context that emphasizes values along with personal and community responsibility. Notes educators can strongly advocate abstinence while providing youngsters with age-appropriate sex information and ways to proceed responsibly and safely.…