A qualitative, longitudinal study of community colleges, including four Canadian institutions, sought to (1) identify and analyze actual institutional behaviors as they adjust to the demands of globalization, and (2) examine the evolving development of the community college as a social institution by focusing on the actions and conditions leading…

Describes and analyzes the perceptions and reactions of a well-qualified, positively oriented primary-school English teacher to Hong Kong's target-oriented curriculum (TOC) initiative, a major government-sponsored innovation. The analysis encompasses teacher attitudes, teacher training and support, teachers' understanding of an innovation, teacher…

A case study is presented on the effect of the Student Affairs National Agenda on student services at four community colleges. Interviews were conducted with presidents, chief academic officers, and chief student affairs officers. An analysis of micropolitical factors suggests a strategy for enhanced effectiveness of such efforts. (Author/EMK)

Argues that contemporary society is increasingly experiencing a loss of social capital. Maintains that this loss takes expression in the increasing tendency, as reflected in school reforms and restructuring, of regarding teachers' work in technical terms. Advocates regarding teaching as a social practice in which there is greater emphasis on…

Fear of censure and political pressures for standardization compel teachers to act in ways they know will not further their students' learning. Changing teachers requires more than offering them information about method, organization, and content. To change, teachers need to examine their own learning and discover what engages students in genuine…

Assessment can be viewed as innovation to be adopted by the people in an institution. It is up to leaders in higher-education institutions to identify early-adopter and majority groups of faculty in schools, colleges, and departments and work with them to adapt assessment to local conditions in a way that overcomes any perceived disadvantages.…

Assessment can have a profound transformational impact on a college or university, but for this to occur, such core values as improvement of student learning through collection of performance-related data must be integrated into the institutional culture. At Truman State University (Missouri), an initially modest commitment to improving student…

Proposes that a successful effort to internationalize the business administration curriculum requires (1) strong and consistent administrative commitment; (2) strong leadership from faculty to develop, operationalize, and manage the internationalization effort; and (3) clear encouragement of interested students and institutional commitment for…

Describes the faculty development efforts at eight medical schools participating in a large-scale medical curriculum development project, exploring faculty-development topics and the methods and ways the institutions motivated faculty to participate. Outcome measures used to gauge program effectiveness are also discussed. Concludes that approaches…

Describes how a Reality Adjustment Program involving interactions with prison inmates stresses the consequences of decisions made during adolescence and the program's impact on four highly angry students for whom other interventions had failed. Suggests that by offering a variety of anger-related programs, middle level educators can learn what…

Central governance of undergraduate medical school curriculum is compared with traditional departmental approaches, based on experiences at the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania). It is argued that centralized governance has more advantages but greater cost. A major challenge of this approach is in resolution of faculty conflict between…

Eight ways in which colleges and universities can help reform of public education are outlined: communicating the need for reform, helping develop standards, aligning college admissions and placement with the new standards, improving teacher professional development, improving preservice teacher preparation, reframing the research agenda,…

This paper reports research on three innovations addressing teachers' adoption of effective instructional interventions: (1) an adoption/administrative model for promoting the use of measurably superior instructional practices; (2) a computer program providing expert implementation advice to individual teachers; and (3) a schoolwide strategy for…

A middle school reform initiative, sponsored by the Program for Disadvantaged Youth of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation 4 years ago, has taken hold in 12 urban middle schools nationwide. The article discusses that reform, noting the lessons about change to accommodate student diversity that urban middle schools can teach. (SM)

The era for international practice for engineers has arrived, and each engineering education system must revise its programs to prepare graduates for practice in the global marketplace. This includes foreign-language instruction, education in cultural awareness, opportunities for international work experience, and greater emphasis on history,…