Summaries of the design, planning, and implementation of performance funding programs in Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington reveal the challenges and opportunities of this reform approach. Performance measures and objectives and the history of the program in each…

Ohio State University's new president, William E. Kirwan, has taken a strong stand on diversity, hiring consultants to analyze weaknesses in minority-student recruiting and personnel practices, and holding quarterly town meetings on race. Some say this exemplifies the type of commitment white male senior executives need to make if higher…

Discusses ways to evaluate proposals for change in the educational system. Outlines three principles to guide in the planning and organization of educational change projects: (1) Base policy and practice on proven practice and research; (2) Support the creation of professional learning communities; (3) Use diffusion principles to support adoption…

One way of supporting college instructors who wish to improve student assessment practices is to offer a framework for change that raises the public profile of assessment policy, acknowledges that there is room for improvement, and provides methodological and collegial support to help instructors formulate and address practical problems. A…

A Rochester, New York, elementary school attributes its high parent involvement to a turnaround strategy involving newsletters, phone calls, parent-teacher conferences, surveys, parent-education classes, parent-involvement activities, special announcements, participation rewards, informal contacts, a parent resource center, home visits, volunteer…

Driven by restructuring, marketplace competition, and technological change, rural electric co-ops are implementing early retirement and severance packages, instituting staffing changes to reflect changing functions and needed skills, hiring business managers to develop business strategies and marketing plans, providing consumer-choice advocates,…

Argues that the role of education should be to shape the whole individual. The culture and organization of schools must change to promote student success and democratic values. The school has failed to be a level playing field for students from all socioeconomic backgrounds, and must become an instrument for justice and liberation for the…

Like most countries that have implemented some form of decentralization policy, Mexico followed a strategy of legislation first and actual reform second. Nicaragua, on the other hand, moved toward school-based management and significant changes in governance and finance with little legal framework. Benefits and pitfalls of the two national…

Critically reviews the sixth curriculum of the middle and high school syllabus in Korea, analyzes syllabus categories and sample sentences of the categories, identifies problems with the syllabus, and suggests reform measures for future syllabus design. (Author/VWL)

Outlines 50 specific ways in which law schools can encourage and support faculty scholarly efforts, including creating an intellectual environment supportive of scholarship, arranging time for scholarly activities, finding ways to pay additional money for scholarship, changing hiring and retention policies to promote scholarship, and using…

Argues that various reforms have been initiated in an attempt to respond to calls for school improvement, and although well-intentioned, most attempts have failed to bring about the substantive change needed in American schools. Discusses first- and second-order change and middle school philosophy. Recounts two stories of change. (SD)

Examines arguments made by Kenneth Ludmerer in "Time To Heal: American Medical Education from the Turn of the Century to the Era of Managed Care," who charges that medical educators have failed to address basic social, organizational, and financial problems. Calls for deep transformation of the ethos, social system, and organization of medical…

Evaluates a (British) government white paper on postsecondary education. Welcomes community councils, social partnerships, and enhanced resources, while criticizing absence of a change model, inadequate employer training investments, and slavish adherence to business's needs and human-capital theory. Empowerment goes further than endless…

This article describes the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and how the Missouri School for the Blind has been using it to measure its organizational effectiveness by focusing on the future, managing by fact, and creating innovative solutions to meet the needs of students, families, staff, and other service providers. (Contains references.)…

Details the University of Colorado (CU) Assessment Project, designed to help teachers create and implement classroom-based performance assessments to complement mathematics and literacy instructional goals. Notes patterns of change, including: instructional and assessment practices with greater emphasis on conceptual understanding; higher…