Intended to provide background information and preliminary options for the California Community Colleges' Commission on Innovation, this document explores issues related to the construction of facilities whose use and cost are shared by various entities. Following introductory materials detailing the Commission's charge, the paper proposes that…

This paper discusses strategic planning for quality in higher education and provides specific examples of institutions working to adopt strategic quality planning. In particular the paper looks at institutions adopting the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) principles. A section on early lessons notes common obstacles to CQI implementation in…

This booklet contains descriptions of what America's schools are doing on their own and in collaboration with their communities to make things better and safer for urban communities. It does not contain statistics on the extent of urban problems; it simply focuses on what urban adults are trying to do for urban children. Program descriptions are…

The four papers in this document present commentaries by four members of the teacher education faculty of Eastern Michigan University on issues related to time and learning, in response to a visit by the National Education Commission on Time and Learning. Sarah Huyvaert notes the complexity and interrelatedness of issues related to time and…

Climate and culture are inherent in the life of every organization, including schools. They are difficult to define and even more difficult to change, yet any reform effort must address them first if it is to succeed. This report helps school leaders understand these crucial factors and measure their influences on the school. It offers various…

In February 1992, a Commission on Quantum Quality was formed. It recommended that Maricopa Community College District (MCCD), in Arizona, launch a quality initiative which involved the implementation of continuous quality improvement (CQI) and, based on John Carver's philosophy and model for reinventing boards of governors, the active involvement…

This practicum addressed the problem faced by a child care center in dealing with parents from various ethnic backgrounds who possessed different views on toddler toilet training. The goal of the 10-week project was to establish an environment in the toddler program that allowed teachers and parents to approach toilet training cooperatively.…

Tremont Consolidated Grammar School (Maine) has changed little in the past 50 years. The wisdom of Paulo Freire and other educators shows that student empowerment, critical thinking, and parent involvement are necessary for true education, particularly for oppressed people. An ecological approach to education involves the family, the community,…

Since 1975, when a federal task force first recommended educating mildly and moderately disabled students in the regular classroom, support has grown for full inclusion of all students in the mainstream. West Feliciana Parish (Louisiana), a poor rural school district in which all students are designated at-risk, has successfully integrated all…

Findings of a study that examined superintendents' perceptions of the methods used by the Ohio State Department of Education to implement legislative mandates are presented in this paper. Etzioni's compliance theory is used as a framework to understand superintendents' perceptions about the state's use of power. A survey of 205 Ohio public school…

This workbook was designed for use in conjunction with classroom instruction and the parent support group model. Its purpose is to help parents both prevent and effectively intervene in their children's unwanted behaviors, such as drug use and gang involvement. Based on the premise that children should be allowed to make choices and then be held…

Designed to speak directly to classroom teachers about their roles as change agents (especially as it applies to improving the teaching of reading and writing), this book uses a combination of strategies, case studies, and a narrative style of writing to bring clarity to what has traditionally been abstract and hidden. The book is in two parts.…

This practicum was designed to provide speech and language therapy to children identified as speech and language impaired, in a Head Start classroom with typically developing peers. The practicum involved amending Head Start component plans, discussing inclusion issues at four education component meetings, conducting an interagency meeting with…

In October 1989, the government of New Zealand responded to results of a 1987-88 study on school management by passing legislation that shifted control of education from a central bureaucracy to local boards of trustees. Using a question-answer format, this document presents a model of the decentralization process as it analyzes the 1989 plan in…

Chief academic officers at 1,053 institutions of higher education across the United States were surveyed about the barriers to improving teaching and learning. Using factor analysis, responses were reduced to nine general problem areas. In order of importance from most important to least important, the problems identified were: financial support,…