Several aspects of unplanned system change in schools are investigated in this paper. Researchers relied heavily on current theoretical perspectives on the nature of educational systems, particularly those that emphasize the "loosely coupled" nature of educational organizations. Two hypotheses were tested. The first is that natural…

Findings are presented from an experimental study of consultants, a three-year project funded by the Human Services Development Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the purpose of which was to provide a technology for use by consultants within youth-serving organizations in the diffusion and utilization of innovative programs.…

In a Program Development and Evaluation model, guidelines are presented for program directors at Delaware County Community College. Based on the premise that the process of developing programs is essentially that of evaluating programs, the model includes the following steps for both processes: (1) involve the appropriate publics; (2) identify…

Military psychology has made three major contributions to civilian education. The first is the systems approach which contains two complementary components: the conceptual and the empirical. The purpose of the conceptual approach is to understand nature to determine on what principle the system works; the purpose of the empirical approach is to…

Systemic planning is an operational approach to using scientific rigor and qualitative judgment in a complementary manner. It integrates rigorous techniques and methods from systems analysis, cybernetics, decision theory, and work programing. The annotated reference sources in this bibliography include those works that have been most influential…

Twelve research reviews in this issue pertain to comprehensive planning in vocational and technical education organized under these topics: (1) "The Systems Approach" treats a Pennsylvania approach to state-local Program planning and an Oregon Planning Programming Budgeting Systems institute, (2) "Program Planning" includes a discussion of the…

The purposes of the proposed system are to provide a standard operating procedure for a systematic and effective handling of project-type study items as differentiated from informational-type items; to assign definite singular responsibility for projects; to suggest specific sequential steps to be taken in the preparation of the project report;…

This report provides a detailed description of an education program cost model designed to accept descriptions of the size and composition of resources used in a particular program and translate them into an estimate of program cost, for convenient comparison of alternatives. The model also translates ("crosswalks") the program budget…

Capitalizing on the potential of a systems approach requires continuous recognition that the purpose of an educational institution is to help human beings grow and develop. All people affected by the program of a school system should reach consensus on issues where possible and clarify issues that need additional study and dialogue. A school…

As one part of the Career Options Research and Development (CORD) Social Service Aide Project, Prairie State College conducted Pilot A program to test and evaluate model career ladders and a core curriculum for the human services areas. Success included: (1) The college has successfully used methods of task analysis to expand the number of human…

Many programs designed to improve youth career planning and development processes face several limitations. To improve such methods such rationale are necessary: (1) make explicit the assumptions underlying these programs; (2) describe the planning methods and criteria for deriving youth goals and performances objectives; (3) specify desired youth…

Describes model four-week therapeutic camping program designed to meet needs of mobility-impaired disabled Maryland youth. Details steps in program plan (statement of purpose, terminal program objectives, enabling objectives, performance measures, content and process descriptions), implementation plan (sequence sheet, implementation description),…

Discusses five of the most common approaches to planning adult education programs: pragmatic approach, Tyler approach, social psychology approach, community development approach, and systems approach. In addition to these, other adult educators offer more eclectic approaches to program planning. (CT)

The authors studied 50 organizations to find which have the most successful career development programs and why. The results are codified into 12 principles, including stay specific, tailor program to culture, build from a conceptual base, formalize, design multiple approaches, co-design and manage the project, ensure top management support, and…

A simulation model of a suburban school district is synthesized by incorporating the results of multiple regression analysis within an Industrial Dynamics framework. The intermediate empirical analysis is described and results of the validation procedure for the final simulation model presented. Three computer experiments with the system model are…