Using game theory as a model, suggestions are made to improve tenured public school teachers' individualized professional improvement plans. Seven basic concepts are discussed: (1) the game concept, a situation which involves decision making by the participants; (2) strategy--a plan for behavior under varied circumstances; (3) payoff--the value of…

A two-part organizational development project carried out at the University of California San Francisco School of Dentistry is described in this brief report. The project goal was to find out what the school is like and how it is perceived by both staff and students. The first phase, needs assessment, was carried out to identify critical…

Part of a 13-volume series designed to be used as a group inservice or a self-learning system to train school administrators and counselors for their role in career education, this section of module 3 is designed to identify change strategies to help the principal motivate teachers to accept the concept of career education. (Module 3 is one of six…

Major findings, interpretations, and policy recommendations developed from a national, in-depth evaluation of the National Diffusion Network (NDN) are presented. Features of the NDN approach to the dissemination of educational innovation include: local change as a goal, use of specialized change agents, emphasis on interpersonal tactics to effect…

For over a hundred years the federal government has been underfunding its treaty obligations and other commitments to the Navajos. As a result, much of the reservation economy now operates at the level of bare subsistence. Deficiencies in social overhead capital have brought on even more marked deficiencies in industrial and commercial capital.…

Among the most crucial economic cutbacks were those directed at the minimal gains Asians, Blacks, Chicanos, and Native American communities had attained in an intensive ten-year struggle for education, particularly the Ethnic Studies programs. Consisting of three panels, the symposium critically examined the common base that Ethnic Studies…

The Trouble-Shooting Checklist (TSC) is an empirically-developed, descriptive instrument which is based on the responses of six educational change agents. It enables an agent to predict a given institution's success in adopting innovations by ordering its levels of concerns and innovation usage. It focuses on two types of innovation:…

The first section of this manual contains a selective review of organizational change literature which focuses on predictive institutional variables as they affect the adoption-diffusion process. The second section describes the development of the Trouble Shooting Checklist (TSC). The third section presents two Trouble Shooting Checklists (TSC-A…

Some of the current thinking on planning and effecting improvements in education in the big cities is together under four major chapters in this publication. A section on major developments, problems, and needs addresses such issues as accelerated rate of change, crisis confrontations ano brush fire techniques, and unanticipated consequences of…

A series of essays discussing ideas about humanizing work are presented in the document. Three major sections divide the essays, and each includes a preface with comments suggesting the central focus and questions with which the authors are concerned. The first section deals with the history, philosophy, and issues related to work and contains…

This report describes early childhood education policy making and legislation in several states and discusses research methodology for comparative case study research. The first part of the study provides a historical account of the emergence of the national compulsory attendance movement in the 19th century, and the corresponding growth of early…

The fourth unit to the second-semester "Comparing Political Experiences" course focuses on a specific, controversial, political issue. Using a documentary approach, this unit analyzes the concept of political change by examining the changes in Riverside, California, as that community confronts the issue of smog. The unit is divided into…

This report builds a case for survey feedback as a useful method of assisting schools to respond actively, rather than passively, to uncertainty and complexity in the school environment. The main argument is that passive responses, such as defensiveness and buffering, reduce educational effectiveness. Planning, an active response, creates…

The School Personnel Utilization Project developed a series of modules to assist personnel in building the necessary skills for the development of organizational change strategies and collaborative, collegial educational problem solving capabilities. This module focuses on the dynamics of organizational change and the interpersonal skills…

The author discusses the meaning of communication and how changes in methods of communication are creating new classroom tools and educational techniques. The inquiry hypothesis is reviewed in terms of its four component elements which suggest relationships between learning and how people communicate. (1) Curiosity is the force that impels the…