This article describes the design and evaluation approaches to address the complexity posed by systems change initiatives. The role of evaluations in addressing the following issues is briefly reviewed: moving from strategic planning to implementation, impacts on system-level coordination, anticipated timeline of impact, and individual level…

Explains "purpose design," a planning and problem-solving strategy involving determination of planning purposes, generation and selection of solutions, specification of solution details, implementation, and evaluation. Describes the application of purpose design to the planning of an alumni association at Black Hawk College, a community…

This article considers a training and development case study involving external advisors as training consultants in the development of a new management structure in a British mental handicap unit. The study provides a number of perspectives on the role of training and development consultants in helping "planning for change" activities.…

Stakeholder-based studies modify the relationship between evaluator and user, producing conflict that can cause evaluators to regress to familiar, traditional patterns that leave interactive evaluation strategies only partially implemented. (Author/PN)

Analysis of the assumptions underlying the stakeholder approach to evaluation combined with the limited experience in testing the approach reported in this volume, suggests that some claims are cogent and others problematical. (Author)

Suggests that the dangers and risks in whole language are real and irremedial, and educators' only recourse is to take responsibility for its shadow side and attempt to learn the lessons that even "monstrous examples" portend. (RS)

Discusses ways to keep established teaching assistant (TA) training programs vital using a case study of the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Davis. Identifies seven key elements in the maturation and subsequent revitalization of the TA training program, including leadership, teaching attitude, financial resources, modest…

Discusses a case study involving organizational change and its effect on employees. Presents three responses to the case study: "Paradox of Ordering Change: I Insist That We Work as a Team" (Paaige K. Turner); "Managing Change Is Managing Meaning" (Greg Hearn and Abraham Ninan); and "The Psychodynamics of an Organizational Change Initiative"…

The study reported in this document was conducted to identify, describe, and assess the potential of innovative approaches to integrating vocational and academic education as one way of helping students to understand the utility of academic learning. Research activities included case studies of five integrated-curriculum programs in California,…

Discusses the use of teletraining to solve performance problems and discusses the role of the change agent in using teletraining successfully. Highlights include identifying performance problems; characteristics of teletraining; the teletraining adoption process (TAP); teletraining implementation process (TIP); and case studies at AT&T…

Several case studies in implementing evidence-based treatments (EBTs) in organizations are presented. Two erroneous presuppositions about treatments with proven efficacy (henceforth called EBTs) frequently lead to major problems (Hoagwood et al., 2001). The first is that the development of an EBT has taken into account the fit between the…

The goal of the Hamilton and Waterloo Catholic School Boards in Ontario, Canada, is to meet the needs of all children, in ordinary, age-appropriate classes in neighborhood schools. This report focuses on this approach of teaching students and disabilities, terming it "full inclusion." The report describes local school board policy and…

A brief literature review and a report on two studies of change implementation in schools indicate that "directed development," in which experts give help directly to classroom teachers, is the most effective implementation strategy. The author's literature review traces research on program implementation from a 1975 Rand report…

Part of a special issue on organizational research utilization, this article analyzes two National Institute of Education programs--the Research and Development Utilization Program and the Experimental Schools Program--and finds that a key reason for nonutilization of research is the "policy vacuum" in which research is conducted.…

Focuses on how basic research on psychological principles eventually leads to practical classroom programs. A case study is presented of a classroom program based on psychological research. Inferences are made regarding the problems of transforming basic research into practical classroom programs. (Author/DB)