True faculty empowerment involves decision participation, authority over issues concerning professional life, and opportunities to acquire knowledge necessary to warrant such activity. This paper describes selected experiences of four schools implementing a shared governance model, identifying factors facilitating meaningful involvement and…

Describes how the State University of New York took advantage of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education's accreditation process that provided an organizational structure, demanded a research base, supported a national perspective, and offered assistance for program improvement.(JOW)

Shares insights of an English teacher gained through a variety of teaching experiences. Describes how the Bay Area Writing Project provided effective strategies to improve the teaching of writing. (NH)

Social, economic and technological changes on a global scale are challenging traditional forms of knowledge and educational practice. In response, educators worldwide are finding ways to forge new roles, identities and relationships. This paper recognises pressures on the teaching force in a global climate of educational reform. Drawing on data…

High school students continue to struggle in algebra, especially in large inner-city schools with underprivileged students. Students are not the only ones skirmishing with algebra. Teachers and school leaders are just as frustrated as they search for answers to complex teaching and learning problems. Two high school principals report the results…

The primary purpose of this study was to determine if there were commonalities in the approaches of 10 elementary school principals in the state of Florida identified as "success stories" in leading reading improvement in their schools in 2002, shortly after enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act at the national level and the Just…

The issues of teacher empowerment and decentralized management have been a part of the educational reform agenda for decades. Recent legislation has required that leadership teams have teacher, support staff, and parent representation, and possibly student representation. Principals receive specific instructions from their Boards of Education as…

Considered a successful university-operated, urban middle school serving an overwhelmingly African American student body, "Charter" Middle School was dechartered suddenly, then merged a year later with students from a neighborhood school to become "Choice" Middle School, a school of choice in the urban district. Using a situated learning framework…

This book examines the new learning and telecommunications technologies and their potential applications to enrich the learning process, to ensure educational equality for all students and to help cultivate the educated person. In the light of recent studies, educational technology developments, and emerging educational needs of the twenty-first…

An academic year-long teacher research initiative was implemented in an alternative education school in a large school district in the southwestern United States. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used to examine participatory teacher research as an active, collaborative means of professional development for teachers, including its…

Without question teacher leadership is more important today to the success of America's schools than it has ever been before. As schools and the populations they serve have grown in size and complexity, principals can no longer be expected to be the sole, or even the primary, source of instructional leadership. This realization has come about as a…

Explores the participants' perceptions and practices about writing, and ascertains some of the critical influences upon the development of teachers' and children's creative competence in the writing classroom. Seeks to empower teachers to develop their own creative potential in order to enrich children's written voices. (SG)

School bashing has been a national pastime for years. Government officials and business leaders demoralize teachers and administrators carrying out improvement efforts by telling them how poorly they are doing. Although many educators truly believe in a national desire to improve education, there is no national will to compensate and empower…

Paul Norton Elementary School in Bettendorf, Iowa, was one of 27 schools chosen to participate in the NEA's Mastery in Learning Network project to empower teachers through site-based management. This article describes the school's ongoing progress at pursuing community-school partnerships, creative fund raising, and time management. (MLH)

Drawing on specific examples in elementary school classrooms and flying instruction analogies, this article shows how teachers can creatively combine tenets of both holistic and direct approaches to reading instruction. Students are more likely to use reading and writing effectively when teachers themselves are empowered to select intelligently…