In this commentary, the 3 review papers by Reynolds et al. (this issue), Muijs et al. (this issue), and Hopkins, Stringfield, Harris, Stoll, and Mackay (this issue) on "educational effectiveness", "teaching effectiveness", and "school and system improvement" are discussed. In the text, the 3 papers are occasionally…

Discusses the need to learn how to design learning systems involving the synthesis of systems thinking and design actions. Design intelligence is considered, based on theories of multiple intelligence; new models of the information age that require systems design are discussed; and the roles of symbolic analysts and symbolic synthesists are…

Provides an overview of this special issue on educational systems design. The International Systems Institute (ISI), a nonprofit agency that contributed the issue, is described; and summaries of the papers are presented, organized according to major themes covered (i.e., conceptual models and issues, design applications, and design learning). (LRW)

Explores the concepts of culture and design to characterize design culture, i.e., a pattern of behavior that integrates design thinking, language, principles, and methods. The importance of the development of a design culture is discussed, including design literacy and design competence, and implications for the educational community are…

Discusses conceptual frameworks for the designing process, including conclusion-oriented design and decision-oriented design; describes the systemic quality cube of design that incorporates process, product, efficiency, and effectiveness and considers total, global, and systemic quality; and discusses present applications, including computerized…

Examines the issue of community involvement in reformulating educational systems. Historical perspectives on community involvement in schools are reviewed; the roles of community members in educational settings and in educational systems design settings are discussed; and experiences from fieldwork observing community participation are related.…

Reviews books considered to advance methodological and conceptual issues pertinent to comparative and historical educational research. (Author/DB)

Describes a case study that combined ethnographic and interview methods to gain an understanding of the types of decisions and factors influencing those decisions within the design inquiry phase of a high school's system-transformation effort. Factors discussed include the facilitator's role, information needs, user-based design teams, and…

In consonance with previous articles advocating change in school psychology role/function change efforts, this article places the burden for change on individual practitioners. Offers preliminary suggestions for how to bring about change through strategies at multiple levels--college/university, professional organization, school…

Describes a plan for a professional development program in educational systems design to prepare facilitators in educational change and restructuring efforts. Highlights include roles in the change process; values and criteria for design; change strategies; emotional stages; attitudinal roadblocks; and needed competencies and skills, including…

Despite an attractive set of premises, the article "Where Will...?" (this issue) fails to identify the reasons for school psychology's frustrations with role and function. Many wonderful ideas and blueprints have appeared in previous literature with little accompanying revolution in practice. The reasons for these failures are outlined. (Author)

This paper focuses on new ways of viewing the educational system by affecting change via small, initial adjustments. A number of fundamental ideas are presented that could be implemented by states, either individually or collectively, to change current educational systems into Information Age systems. Taking the cue from Chaos Theory, which states…

Argues that all stakeholders in education should be consulted regarding the purpose, goals, accomplishments, and behaviors to be influenced by education, and that specific content should be accomplishment-based. Five figures illustrate: (1) the behavior/accomplishment relationship, (2) synthesis of desired K-12 accomplishments, (3) examples of…

The intent of this paper is to examine the issues, problems, implications, rationale, and basic assumptions behind the reexamination of the need for a generally accepted national policy for vocational education. The paper is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1 establishes a framework to use in dealing with the main issues. The second chapter…

The "virtual campus" is a metaphor for the electronic teaching, learning, and research environment created by the convergence of several relatively new technologies including, but not restricted to, the Internet, World Wide Web, computer-mediated communication, video conferencing, multi-media, groupware, video-on-demand, desktop…