The movement to strengthen the nation's workforce by redefining what all students need to learn has profound implications for the design of state assessment systems. The confluence of events--the change in the national and international climate, acknowledgment of long-standing inequities in education opportunity and achievement, and the…

This account describes the total reengineering of an organization with the attendant changes to the culture, the nature of the work, the rethinking of the organizational purpose, and the identification of a new customer base and new concepts of how the organization will reach it. The case is presented not as scientific research but as a case of…

Emerging adulthood is a period in which profound role changes take place across a number of life domains including finance, romance, and residence. On the basis of dynamic systems theory, change in one domain should be related to change in another domain, because the concept of development according to this approach is a relational one. To…

From his review of research on consultation, Zins (1995) concluded (a) that a paradigm shift to a more prevention-oriented approach was necessary; (b) that systems-level consultation held significant potential; and (c) that systems-level consultation had the most data to support its use in preventive efforts. This commentary reviews promising…

The higher vocational and professional specialty of "construction management" of China begun late, and the talent training mode of various colleges are different, especially the analysis to the specialty ability modules on the higher vocational and professional layer is not mature. In this article, combining with the practice of Manjing…

In 2003, Terrence Martell, a finance professor at the City University of New York's Baruch College, encountered a classroom of 80 seniors who could navigate the complex intricacies of the futures markets and commodities trading. But when he asked them to write a report explaining to a commodity pool operator why he or she should retain the student…

Activity theory (AT) is a powerful tool for investigating "artefacts in use", ie, the ways technologies interrelate with their local context. AT reveals the interfaces between e-learning at the macro- (strategy, policy, "campus-wide" solutions) and the micro-organisational levels (everyday working practice, iterative change, individual…

This article reports on an evaluation methodology development study for K-12 school and university partnerships. The method is based on Engestrom's (1987). "Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research". Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit Oy activity systems analysis that allows researchers to examine qualitative…

This study explored the perceptions of Mexican senior government agency officials with regard to the impact of NAFTA on training and development practices in Mexico. This study was conducted using a phenomenological tradition within qualitative research. The major findings of the study indicate that Mexican senior government agency officials…

This paper is an attempt by James G. Miller to apply the concepts of a general systems theory to increase the understanding of the educational process. He classifies the elements of the educational process into levels of living systems: the organism level--student, parent, teacher, etc.; the group level--the class in the classroom; the…

How should universities manage their research function? Today, research-based knowledge is viewed widely as fundamental to economic advancement. As a result, universities everywhere are facing pressure to rethink their research activities. A general model of the research process is presented here. Linkages are drawn between that process, other…

In this paper, we propose a conceptual and operational framework for process reengineering (PR) in higher education (HE) institutions. Using a case study aimed at streamlining exam scheduling and distribution in a distance learning (DL) unit, we outline a sequential and non-linear four-step framework designed to reengineer processes. The first two…

Organizations worldwide have been turning to Six Sigma program (SSP) to eliminate the defects in their products or drive out the variability in their processes to attain a competitive advantage in their marketplace. An effective certification program has been touted as a major contributor to successful implementation of SSP. An effective…

The first-ever U. S. Department of Education summit on sustainability, "Sustainability Education Summit: Citizenship and Pathways for a Green Economy," was held on Sept. 20-21, 2010, in Washington, D.C. The Sustainability Education Summit (the Summit) brought together leaders from higher education, business and industry, labor,…

System Dynamics is a well formulated methodology for analyzing the components of a system including cause-effect relationships and their underlying mathematics and logic, time delays, and feedback loops. It began in the business and manufacturing world, but is now affecting education and many other disciplines. Having inspired by successful policy…