Strategic planning, a necessary alternative to logical incrementalism in turbulent environments, will let educators move from a reactive to a proactive posture. This article briefly reviews strategic planning literature, focuses on environmental scanning, and describes an evolving model developed for the chief state school officers of a four-state…

Develops a model for analyzing the centralized/decentralized nature of decision-making in American colleges and universities. (Author)

Provides an analysis of the policy making process and examines various models and theories related to public and educational policy making. Minority writers have shown that in order for significant positive educational change to occur in minority communities there must be increases in the number of minorities in policy making positions.…

Sets forth some generalizations about the involvement and influence in state education policy-making of four kinds of actors: state boards of education, chief state school officers, governors, and educational interest groups. (Author)

The two reform orientations termed "hard" and "soft" policy do not represent a set of mutually exclusive choices for policymakers. Bureaucratically and professionally based decision-making approaches must coexist in schools and school districts. The dual policy approach necessitates a rethinking of administrative posture and gives shape to a…

Describes a conceptual framework for cost-effectiveness analysis that attempts to determine the relative impact of the different input variables on the output measures. Applies the model to a school district. (Author/JM)