Factors that can powerfully affect an educator's ability to manage school change are culture, leadership, and readiness. Movement from bureaucracy to community, from isolation to collaboration, involves cultural changes. Managing the change process within a cultural context is influenced by the structural, human resources, political, and symbolic…

This paper describes competency-based training and open learning, two methods of teaching/learning that are having a significant effect on the education offered through Australia's Technical and Further Education (TAFE) program. The paper defines competency-based training and open learning and details the broad impact they are having on resource…

School-based early childhood centers are high-quality programs using approaches to instruction based on recognized principles of child development and learning for children 3 to 8 years old. The centers are characterized by the active involvement of parents and the community and by a commitment to smooth transitions from home to school and through…

Based on the assertion that community colleges are moving from the community-based paradigm of the past 30 years to a new paradigm combining the forces of learner- and community-based education, this book explores the role of leadership in changing the mission and culture of the colleges. Chapter 1 describes differences between the older top-down…

This policy brief examines the relationship between fiscal policies in special education and the requirement under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that students with disabilities be educated in the least restrictive environment appropriate to their needs. It discusses the effects of state fiscal policy on the provision of special…

This newsletter focuses on the results of Safe Schools Program activities funded by the North Carolina Center for Prevention of School Violence and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction from January 1994 to June 1995. These activities included conflict resolution and peer mediation, coping with anger, crisis response teams, a…

This document sets out a "Framework" to underpin the development and ongoing renewal of the school curriculum in Hong Kong. It also indicates the bases on which the Framework is developed. The Framework forms the foundation of Hong Kong's Target-Oriented Curriculum (TOC) initiative and provides a useful reference for curriculum…

This paper examines how treating equity conflicts in sports through an emphasis on compliance with Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 has actually hindered the mass adoption of gender equity in sport and proposes that applying the principles of diffusion would allow desired change to occur as an innovation and therefore be more readily…

Rowan College of New Jersey has adopted an "enterprise model" for strategic planning that is seen as central to attaining the mission of the college during a time involving a substantial decline in state support. Rowan pursued a strategy termed "growth by substitution." This new process was cast in a more entrepreneurial mold…

As rural communities become more culturally diverse, the institutions and organizations that serve them must assist this cultural transition by providing a framework for change. Such a framework includes a vision of healthy diverse communities that are conscious of changing demographics and willing to reevaluate community self-image. Three…

This study examined major issues of restructuring and cost containment confronting graduate/research universities and the application of strategic planning to these issues. The study obtained data from a survey of administrators at 35 selected "Research I Universities" and site visits to six public and four independent universities at…

This document, prepared as background information for a conference arranged by the National Association of State Directors of Special Education, reviews studies on the use of the individualized education program (IEP) in the education of students with disabilities. The report begins by explaining the legislative origins of the IEP. The report then…

This report identifies, describes, and analyzes exemplary elementary and middle school reform efforts for limited-English-proficient (LEP) students in grades 4 through 8 in language arts, science, and mathematics in 20 states; 75 schools were screened originally by telephone to identify those exhibiting excellence in high quality language arts,…

Working with the Philadelphia-based Institute of Interactive Management, several teams at Jackson Community College (JCC), in Michigan, set out in 1994 to learn and apply an interactive design methodology to selected college subsystems. Interactive design begins with understanding problems faced by the system as a whole, which in the case of JCC…

This report proposes a new national strategy to prevent child abuse and neglect. Four components of the proposed strategy are that it be: (1) comprehensive; (2) neighborhood-based; (3) child-centered; and (4) family-focused. Specific elements of the strategy include: (1) strengthening neighborhoods; (2) reorienting the delivery of human services;…