This paper presents findings of a study that determined whether the educational benefits received by four African-American communities in Louisiana were a product of political interaction. The following theoretical frameworks were used: Floyd Hunter's (1953) method for identifying "community influentials," Robert Dahl's (1963) method for…

This book is the second in a two-volume series of studies of educational change organized around three themes--systemic change, the transformation of policy into practice, and curriculum contexts. The book presents case studies from Australia, Great Britain, Israel, the United States, and New Zealand to illustrate the cross-cultural complexity of…

The increasing health needs of students over the last 20 years have left many school personnel with questions and fears about helping these students. This program outline offers suggestions for school health care plans for students. It is essential that all people involved with the student be invited to be a part of the team. Key team members are:…

This brochure is designed to answer questions about visual arts education. It is a compilation of answers to questions that school board members and district administrators raise most often. Topics include the administrator's role in the district art program; values of art education; and staffing, budget, facilities, evaluation, standards, and…

In 1991 the Oregon Legislature passed major school-reform legislation, the Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century. The act contains the following provisions: early childhood education; nongraded, developmental education; outcomes-based education; comprehensive support services; and school-based decision making. Oregon's educators were not…

This document contains eight articles that offer a nonpartisan evaluation of the pros and cons associated with tax reforms. They were written by members of the Technical Study Group, which was established by the New York State Department of Education in 1994 to examine the generation of revenue for public education. The work of the study group…

This book is comprised of six case studies that were commissioned by the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching (NCREST) at Teachers' College, Columbia University, New York City, New York. Five elementary and one middle school from Kentucky, Florida, Indiana, South Carolina, and Maine are represented. They present a…

A study was conducted in Britain between October 1990 and June 1991 to evaluate the implementation and delivery of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and the implications for the training of trainers. (NVQs are a device for assessing performance; they represent the systemization of the skills and competencies required in a wide variety of…

This book contains eight papers presented at a symposium on the process of redefining the relationships between business and older workers and how older workers might enhance U.S. competitiveness, now and in the future. The book includes an introduction by U.S. Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich and an overview, "U.S. Competitiveness and the Aging…

During the last decade, the discovery that most voters believed that public schools were in need of improvement fueled the educational reform movement. This paper examines the public's role in education, with a focus on reasons for the public's failure to actively support educational reform. A review of recent surveys indicates that although most…

Rather than defining and debating particular goals, educational policymakers tend to focus on the technical issues surrounding educational practice. This book considers the social and ethical orientations that structure mainstream policy dialogues and the way in which adoption of some alternative social and ethical principles would change the form…

From September 4 to 6, 1996, the Committee on the Future of Arizona Community Colleges conducted a charrette, or structured decision-making process designed to develop consensus, to provide recommendations for improving Arizona's community colleges. In developing the charrette, the Committee issued a request for ideas in March 1996 and selected 79…

Agencies funding early childhood education projects, policy analysts, and research consumers have created a demand for research tools generating data with applied reliability. This paper examines the focus group as a social science research tool which meets this demand. Part 1 defines a focus group as a carefully planned discussion designed to…

Content-driven systemic school reform emerged in recent years as a major policy alternative in the United States. Major reforms include the establishment of state curriculum frameworks, the development of student assessments, and the adoption of new textbooks tied to the curriculum frameworks. Because successful implementation of content-driven…

The Western Job Training Partnership Association (WJTPA) supports the periodic evaluation of the scope and effectiveness of national, state, and local work force preparation and work force education programs. The WJTPA believes that future programs must correct the problems inherited from earlier work force preparation programs, such as the…