In March of 1986, Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC) instituted the Miami-Dade Teaching/Learning Project (MDTLP) to help the college improve teaching and learning and respond to the needs of non-traditional students. This book uses a description and evaluation of the MDTLP to present practical guidelines for organizing, managing,…

How an elementary school (pseudonym, Sunny Days Elementary School) initiated school restructuring using the School Restructuring Process Model developed by Charles Reigeluth was studied, using formative evaluation to see how the actual experiences of the school might refine and improve the model. The model follows a three-phase process from…

School staff members need continuing opportunities to learn and grow because the waves of social change strike them first and most powerfully. Research on effective schools tends to stress staff development as crucial. School boards are involved in the development of their staff. A staff development program of broad scope and sharp focus can…

The year-long Lighthouse District Planning Process culminated in the development of a plan that addresses the needs of at-risk students in the Burlington School District and the Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union in Vermont. This final report on the project also serves as a guide that can be used by other districts to construct a comprehensive…

The Governors' Task Force on Technology focused on the development of policies and programs that encourage effective use of technology in the classroom. Part one of this document lists the charges to the task force to investigate the most cost-effective ways to use various technological advances, and to consider policy questions. Task force…

This report presents an overview of educational reform proposed by several national reports before focusing specifically upon the Holmes Group goals for transforming teacher education. These goals are to: (1) make the education of teachers intellectually more solid; (2) recognize differences in teachers' knowledge, skill, and commitment in their…

The creation of a new reading program at a New Jersey elementary school can provide administrators with a lesson in trying to make major changes in schools. A reading specialist presented research from the National Assessment of Educational Progress indicating the need for a different approach to reading instruction, as shown by reduced reading…

This paper describes the development of an oral history project designed to help both preservice and inservice teachers gain a sense of perspective as they deal with complex educational changes. Students in the Introduction to Education course were required to select a period of educational history or a topic, such as desegregation, which…

This address by the Chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) discusses recent and long-term changes in the district's programs, educational quality, and financial standing, and suggests means for future improvements. First, the paper highlights the district's achievements in improving transfer education and developing new…

Enactment of South Carolina's Education Improvement Act of 1984 taught several lessons about successful education reform. The law provides for raising student performance by increasing academic standards; strengthening the teaching and testing of basic skills; elevating the teaching profession; improving leadership, management, and fiscal…

Today, after nearly 100 years of pressure toward consolidation, communities which have resisted consolidation for the last generation are finally getting some support. Some of this support comes from simple facts and figures. There is strong evidence that centralized schools are expensive, remote from the communities they are supposed to serve,…

A study of the federal role in the advancement of lifelong learning focused on the probable impact of a federally supported lifelong learning system and the existing educational system on one another. The conditions and parameters of the following claim were examined: any lifelong learning enterprise initially funded by the federal government…

This report is one in a series of ten documents examining the experiences of New York State in the transition from traditional to competency based teacher education. This volume presents data on institutional perceptions of problems relating to program development. Institutions of higher education and the State Education Department perceptions are…