The effects of systems-based mathematics instruction on students' mathematics achievement were studied over a two-year period. Students taught by that method for the full two years outscored those receiving one year of systems-based instruction, those previously taught by that method, and those taught exclusively by conventional methods.…

The 22 articles of this special issue focus on families with mentally, physically or emotionally disabled family members and discuss the importance of viewing the family as a system. Research studies and literature reviews report on family reaction, stress variables and coping techniques, placement decisions, and policy recommendations. (JAC)

A model of inservice education programs for vocational education teachers is presented that consists primarily of the following components: the research foundation; the experimental or practical foundation; the communication base; a systems approach; and a cooperative framework. (GW)

This paper outlines an array of categories that denote kinds of influence variables operative in organizational systems--including structures, relationships, and technology. This allows us to synthesize literature from a variety of system levels and sources by addressing the question: What variables influence a communicator's behavior at any given…

Many distance training case studies identify distance training leadership as bottom-up, whereas much of the literature suggests a need for strategic, top-down approaches. With change management as an overarching framework, approaches to sustaining distance training that originate at different levels of the organization are explored. Special…

This paper discusses social and cultural change, deep ecology, and systems thinking in relation to the maintenance of Indigenous cultures and languages. All cultures change, and the current crisis in language loss for Native communities is related to cultural change. From a systems perspective, culture is a way of thinking about one's social…

All too often, rhetoric has become the guide for change, rather than philosophical assumptions and value systems. This paper presents three organizational constructs to assist schools in successfully transforming their work cultures into learning organizations. The three components include systems thinking and quality concepts, social…

Communication as a discipline is studied in varied contexts: interpersonal, group, organizational, mediated, and public communication. To make clear to students the commonness and not the differences among the contexts, the hybrid basic course should not be taught in separate units as if group communication were a different species from…

The purpose of this study was to determine the procedural knowledge brought to, and created within, a pond ecology simulation by students. Environmental Decision Making (EDM) is an ecosystems modeling tool that allows users to pose their own problems and seek satisfying solutions. Of specific interest was the performance of biology majors who had…

This booklet provides basic information and guidelines to rural New York school districts competing for grants or other competitive funding. Section 1 examines new realities in the education landscape: the demand for higher academic standards, requirements for increased accountability, the call for systemic change, the need to integrate and align…

This final report describes the activities and accomplishments of the Consortium on Inclusive Schooling Practices, a federally-funded 5-year project to investigate the utility of a systemic approach for building the capacity of state and local education agencies to provide inclusive educational services. The project focused on four states…

This study examined how campus peer culture influences the ways in which multiracial students make meaning of their racial identity, and applies Urie Bronfenbrenner's ecological model of cognitive development to analyze elements in the college environment that stimulate or inhibit identity development. Discussion of the situation of multiracial…

This book presents 16 papers on assessment in higher education grouped into four sections on: first, systems approaches to assessment; second, the effectiveness of innovative assessment; third, assessing practice; and fourth, autonomous assessment. The included papers are: (1) "Institutional Strategies for Assessment" (Sally Brown); (2)…

This paper describes systemic thinking in support of the recently established Navajo Nation Rural Systemic Initiative (RSI). The RSI aims to create a standards-based student-centered teaching and learning environment in mathematics, science, and technology in the 173 elementary and secondary schools on or near the Navajo Nation, including public,…

The University of Houston-Clear Lake has developed a systematic design process to use in facilitating the development of online distance education courses. The process incorporates three semesters, during which faculty members have the opportunity to consult with a design team that consists of instructional designers, World Wide Web developers,…