The fourth volume of a 10-volume report, this document provides a synthesis and analysis of indepth ethnographic case studies of 12 school districts engaged in school improvement efforts in a subsample of the study's 146 districts. All districts were implementing new practices, seven using National Diffusion Network innovations and five developing…

Respondents to a 1982-83 survey of assessment practices in California's community colleges identified Sacramento City College (SCC), Fullerton College (FC), Sierra College (SC), and Victor Valley College (VVC) as having the most effective assessment/placement programs in the state. Interviews conducted on-site with at least three staff members…

Policies, plans, and programs for development and innovation in Egyptian education are discussed. Chapter 1 focuses on the fundamentals of general education in Egypt, examining fundamental traits of Egyptian society, local and international variables, general trends of educational development and innovation, traits and goals of future education,…

Texts of keynote addresses and abstracts of the presentations at the 1983 National Conference on Teaching Excellence are provided in this proceedings. Introductory material, by Suanne Roueche, indicates that the main purpose of the conference was to showcase master teachers and their teaching innovations and details conference activities. Next, H.…

The media production department of Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) began quality circle meetings in January 1981 after studying the process of quality circles and obtaining the understanding and support of the college administration. A quality circle is a small group of people doing similar work who voluntarily meet on a regular basis to…

This article reviews some of the research applications of biofeedback techniques and suggests how these may be of use in counseling. The goals toward which biofeedback can be used are increased self-awareness, integration of the individual, and the freedom to make choices regarding states of consciousness. (SJL)

This article enumerates the conditions needed for comprehensive and continuing renewal to occur within school systems. (JS)

Even where collective bargaining is well established, teachers have almost no voice in educational decisionmaking. This is likely to remain a source of teacher frustration until the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers merge into a united organization that effectively represents teachers on a national level. (JG)

Higher education is beginning to place emphasis on process rather than on selection, and educators are increasingly willing to deal with individual differences in learners. Three teaching models illustrate the continuum of change: (1) the remedial model, (2) the educator's model, and (3) the pluralistic model. (MW)

Over the past decade educational researchers and curriculum evaluators have dealt with the deviation between a specified educational program and its actual implementation. These differences have been referred to as a critical problem in both the achievement and the evaluation of a program's goals. The research reported here has explored the…

The Chautauqua movement is described with a focus on its influences on American higher education. As the most influential wholly American institution in the social and cultural life of rural communities, its contributions to higher education included development of correspondence and extension courses and the creation of the summer term.…

This project had three goals: (1) to seek out the policies and practices currently in place to prepare academic teaching staff to develop, write, and teach in distance education; (2) to identify effective professional preparation and staff development practices for distance education currently in use in Australian postsecondary institutions; and…

This discussion of information literacy as a tool for achieving professional and personal goals argues that information literacy for individuals is a means of becoming empowered, i.e., being able to find and make sense of information to refute or verify expert opinion, without being utterly dependent on others for information. The value of being…

The New Haven Initiative for Excellence in Education is a private sector endeavor to support public schools in New Haven (Connecticut). The Initiative's premiere program is the Grants for Excellence program. Grants of up to $500 are available to teachers, administrators, and parents to fund special innovative teaching projects not normally funded…