Discusses positive developments occurring in the teaching profession and the changes needed to nurture them. Teacher empowerment does not mean banishing principals, but enabling teachers to participate in group decision-making and make key choices affecting their own work. Teachers have always been critical to effective schooling. (MLH)

A study of three schools practicing shared governance indicates that supervision and teacher empowerment are compatible concepts. The keys to success are patience and administrators' philosophical commitment to shared decision-making. Includes three references. (MLH)

Instead of focusing on narrowly defined, technical teaching models, reflective teaching embodies a broad, indepth understanding of what is happening in the classroom. This article describes a staff development model providing teachers with a research overview, training in data collection techniques, and lessons in nonjudgmental self-observation…

Describes a high school English department's successful efforts to define and shape their own peer assistance program. The program succeeded because it is voluntary, has received administrative support, and has evolved slowly and naturally. The program has communication, rehearsal, and awareness benefits and calls for a new kind of professional…

Describes a Sonoma County (California) school district's peer coaching program designed to meet the needs of new, probationary, and experienced teachers. The program succeeded because participation was voluntary, the training empowered teachers and improved their coaching skills, and teachers continued to meet as a group and learn from each other.…

Peer coaching promises to reduce teachers' isolation, create a professional and collegial school environment, and promote skill transfer from training to the workplace. To help peer coaching achieve these results, several guidelines are presented. Peer coaching programs need administrative support, adequate training, participant trust, and…

Important effective coaching components include facilitating teachers' lesson analysis, encouraging alternative approaches, and conducting conferences in a nonjudgmental way. This survey suggests that many of these critical attributes are lacking or of dubious quality for one-third to one-half of PET-trained teachers in the sample. Includes 14…

Although school-based management takes many forms, its essence is school level autonomy plus participatory decision-making. This article discusses implications for budget, staffing, curriculum, and beyond. The key is substituting participation for authority. A sidebar presents research highlights. Includes 26 references. (MLH)

Numerous school districts are experimenting with site-based management, gaining increased authority and responsibility while aiming to improve accountability and productivity. Some key elements include alternative resource allocation, expanded decision-making through teamwork, key advisory committee roles for parents and high schoolers, increased…

In one Colorado school district, site-based management creates ownership for those responsible for implementing decisions by involving them directly in the decision-making process. This article summarizes the district's mistakes and accomplishments in defining terms and roles, providing support and training, resolving conflict, and managing…

Describes a comparative case study of three Georgia districts with demonstrated improvement in student achievement over three years. Shows how these districts created a climate for professsional dialogue, provided supervisory support, and welcomed leadership from various sources. Superintendents and central office staff were key facilitators of…

Grim statistics on poor children, homeless families, and child abuse belie our civic leaders' public assertions of love and concern for children. Children are often not well-served in their relationships with adults. Educators need to cooperate with others to create social policy that treats children as valued persons, not commodities. Includes…

When closely examining America's children, we see that even basic needs for care, shelter, food, and love are going unmet for millions. Family, society, and school are failing children barraged with conflicting consumer messages. The restoration of childhood demands creation of enlightened social policy and child-friendly islands of decency.…

Comments on Tawana Brawley, a Black teenager who ran away mentally to escape the violence she feared from her mother's boyfriend. Other "throwaway" children prefer life in the streets to being beaten, sexually molested, or psychologically abused in their own homes. Tawana's self-mutilation may have resulted from such fear. (MLH)

The nation's teachers are dissatisfied with school reform impacts. To improve schooling, we must begin with the children--not dry abstractions such as students, cohorts, and classes. Teachers recommend that well-paid, literate older people help in classrooms, since children are arriving at school with fewer skills and less readiness. (MLH)