December 14, 1986

IN many cities across the country, historic buildings are being refurbished in efforts to transform them into usable and attractive new office or retail projects. But in downtown Dallas, with one of the highest office vacancy rates in the country, the story is slightly different. Dallas's InterFirst Two Building, which is only 12 years old, is being almost completely redesigned in an attempt to keep it attractive to tenants. It also has been renamed the Renaissance Tower, its third title so far (its original name was the First International Building).

The United States Ambassador to Lebanon reported to Secretary of State George P. Shultz today that he had been personally assured by Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter that Mr. Shultz had no objections to private ''back channel'' communications to handle negotiations for the release of American hostages in Lebanon, State Department officials said. The Ambassador, John H. Kelly, was summoned back to Washington by Mr. Shultz to explain why Mr. Kelly had not informed him at the time of his dealings with Admiral Poindexter, as well as with Lieut. Col. Oliver L. North and Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord, retired, all central figures in the operation to sell arms to Iran. Mr. Shultz told a House committee on Monday that he was ''shocked'' to learn that Ambassador Kelly had bypassed State Department channels and instead dealt through a Central Intelligence Agency ''back channel.''

THE New Jersey provisional teacher program -the alternative route to teacher certification -continues to draw a substantial number of highly qualified candidates, according to the state's Department of Education. Last year, when the program began, 121 provisional teachers were employed in schools throughout the state. That number increased to 391 in September: 69 in private schools and 322 in public schools. In the same period, applications for the program rose by 61 percent, from 1,217 to 1,962. Under the program, school districts are permitted to employ college graduates who have not taken education courses. To qualify, a candidate must have a degree in the subject he will teach, pass a state certification test and be offered a position in a school district approved for training provisional teachers.

Willie Glass had just finished his post-game interviews yesterday and was leaving when Reggie Miller, U.C.L.A.'s star forward and Glass's archrival, began to answer his first question. ''Wait a minute,'' said Glass, interrupting a conversation. ''I want to hear what he says.'' Thanks largely to Glass's defensive effort on Miller and stellar performances by Shelton Jones and Mark Jackson, St. John's had just beaten U.C.L.A., 70-63, in front of 11,839 at Madison Square Garden.

IMAGINE a public school where teachers earn $60,000 a year or more. Also, these teachers -freed from tasks such as monitoring halls, lunchrooms and playgrounds, and assisted by aides, teacher interns and local business people - can spend their entire day working directly with students. Suppose, too, that a committee of teachers runs the school and that there are plenty of opportunities for professional growth. Such a scenario is described in the report of the Task Force on Teaching as a Profession of the Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy. One of the latest national reports urging major school reforms, it challenges Americans to improve the quality of teaching at a time when the country will need an estimated 1.3 million new teachers by 1992 because of attrition. As the debate over how to put the Carnegie report into effect moves into Westchester, local teachers-union leaders and school-board members agree that teachers here generally are paid better and have more say in the curriculum and the operation of their schools than do teachers in many other parts of the country. But representatives of both groups, particularly the teachers, also say many of the Carnegie report's recommended improvements in salary and working conditions will have to be made even in Westchester to keep experienced teachers in the classroom and to attract new qualified candidates to teaching.