Assessment and evaluation can be important tools in improving the effectiveness and quality of programs, especially criminal justice programs, if they are integrated into the plans and designs of strategies instead of being added later. An evaluation systems approach to program development is needed to ensure that effectiveness and efficiency are…

During 1974-75, a nine-month field study of the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) was performed. Researchers observed MDE members at work, attended meetings, conducted interviews, and read documentary material. Attention was focused on the MDE at a system level and on the top 30-40 persons whose actions both caused and reflected…

Educational policy does not always translate into programs that are consistent with the policymakers' original intentions. This paper presents findings of a case study that followed the course of a policy developed at the state level to teacher practice at the classroom level. Set in a western state, the study collected data through document…

The speaker concentrates on the effects of statewide accountability implementation on school system management and on the state's delivery of educational services. In discussing the need to link accountability systems with existing organizational systems, the speaker spends the majority of his time examining how the New Jersey efforts relate to…

The necessity of design and planning for school restructuring with a macro focus on education systems design is discussed in this paper. Eight support and implementation strategies are identified: utilization of a formal change process; planned coordination; multiple sponsorship; formation of a grassroots collaboration network; external and…

This paper examines systematic policy formulation as it contributes to the strategic planning process for school technology. Policy affecting school technology exists at three distinct levels that correspond with the three general governmental levels: federal, state, and local. The Policy Formulation Model is a process that can be used to guide…

Drawing largely on data from Los Angeles, but with reference to other cities where appropriate, this paper attempts to clarify the distinctive positions taken by advocates of community control as opposed to proponents of administrative decentralization. While community control is essentially a political demand, oriented toward citizens influencing…

The effective implementation of school redesign, based on a social systems approach, is discussed in this paper. A basic assumption is that the interdependence of system elements has implications for a complex change process. Seven barriers to redesign and five critical issues for successful redesign strategy are presented. Seven linear steps for…

Policy-making is viewed as a complex and unorganized process. Several aspects are examined: political, rational, collegial, and eclectic. The political model is chosen as that closest to the educational policy-making process. Theories of that process in higher education institutions are examined. Recommendations for programs to prepare educational…

This paper examines the determinants of systemic education reform in the American states. Socioeconomic, political, and cultural variables are all found to affect the level of systemic education policy in each state. Unlike many studies of policy determinants, urbanization is negatively associated with this particular policy. The political factors…

Ideas that have been developed in the decision support systems (DSS) literature that seem particularly relevant to institutional research, planning, and analysis (IRPA) are reviewed. In addition, a survey of practitioners in Canadian universities that provides new information on the rapidly changing current state of information technology,…

Communications can play an important role in rural development. Especially promising are programs to reduce the cost of transportation and to extend services to dispersed rural populations, especially education, health, and entertainment services. There is a strong presumptive case that broadband communications can do a great deal to promote rural…

Overwhelmed by conflicting demands from within its own administration, from its local school board, and from the state department of education, the school district of Summit, New Jersey, took action to develop a consensus among those making demands. Administrators and school board members attended a working dinner where each individual identified…

As the problems encountered by big city school systems have increased, the educational establishment has come under sharp attack in some part because professional educators have unilaterally made far reaching decisions, insulated from public scrutiny. In order to voice opposition to these decisions, some community members have begun to form new…

This study reports on the formulation of educational technology policy in three Illinois K-12 school districts (n=36). Major findings included: (1) educational policy formulation in the districts focused on collecting the objects of technology, such as computers, modems, networks, rather than viewing educational technology as a systematic process…