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Managing Facilitator Competencies in Learning Circles on Cooperative Learning by Wee Suyin Sheila Esther Teachers' Network, Ministry of Education, Singapore This study investigated the role of the facilitator in Learning Circles. Learning Circles (LCs) are groups of teachers who come together to conduct action research on topics of mutual interest related to the enhancement of teaching. These LCs are sponsored by a branch of the Singapore Ministry of Education, the Teachers' Network. The researcher is a staff member there charged with facilitating LCs. The study entailed a detailed look at what skills and attributes the Learning Circle facilitator needs to bring to the research situation to help teacher-researchers engage and persist in inquiry into their practice. Participants in the study were ten teachers who had been involved in Learning Circles related to cooperative learning and rubric writing for assessing project work, one teacher educator who functioned as resource person to one of the Learning Circles, and the researcher herself. Data was collected via focus group interviews, individual interviews, and detailed observations. Results suggest that the facilitator competencies essential to the effectiveness of LCs are more easily identified than effected. Collaboration among teachers, just like collaboration among students, is a complex process. Successful action research facilitators, just like successful cooperative learning teachers, not only assist with academic and pedagogical expertise, they also pay attention to the people involved in the process, maintaining a balance between many conflicting roles. At the end of the day, professional and technical expertise alone will not engage teachers; instead, it is the affable, emotionally intelligent facilitator who can encourage the commitment of teachers who will persist in the research and themselves become agents of change. For a soft copy of the entire research report, please contact Sheila at Sheila_Esther_WEE@MOE.gov.sg. Even better, Sheila warmly welcomes the opportunity to dialogue with others on this important topic. Success for All and Curiosity Corner by Bette Chambers The Success for All Foundation is a nonprofit organization that develops, disseminates, and researches educational programs for children who are at risk of school failure due to poverty. The SFAF elementary school reform program, Success for All, is currently being implemented in more than 1500 schools in 48 states in the USA and five countries. Success for All incorporates a great deal of cooperative learning and other forms of peer interaction. A book in press from Erlbaum, titled Success for All: Research and Reform in Elementary Education,describes these international implementations. The Success for All Foundation is expanding their repertoire of school reform models to include middle school and preschool. The middle school program, with a reading component called the