The implementation of school improvement programs is a key factor in their impact. School improvement depends on the following: (1) how teachers and administrators are educated; (2) how school districts and universities collaborate; (3) how improvement programs are planned; and (4) how teachers and administrators are involved in professional…

Presents the results of a Delphi projection of continuing education needs of the library community of Wisconsin. Potential changes are summarized in nine categories: social system; target markets and learning needs; social/philosophical aspirations; new technologies; traditional functions/services; library and system structure; library…

The Great Leap Forward disaster, characterized by a collapse in grain production and a widespread famine in China between 1959 and 1961, is found attributable to a systemic failure in central planning. Wishfully expecting a great leap in agricultural productivity from collectivization, the Chinese government accelerated its aggressive…

This paper provides a background to recent developments in language planning in South Africa. Following a historical review, it focuses on a Bill of Rights in the new constitution which has, since 1993, demanded a shift towards rights-based language policy within a liberal framework. Debates within the Pan South African Language Board (PANSALB)…

"Teachers' Schools and the Making of the Modern Chinese Nation-State" is an innovative account of educational and social transformations in politically tumultuous early twentieth-century China. It focuses on the unique nature of Chinese teachers' schools, which bridged Chinese and Western ideals, and the critical role that these schools…

Educational administration, like many other social sciences, has traditionally followed the rubrics of classical science with its emphasis on prediction and control and attempts to understand the whole by understanding in ever finer detail how the parts fit together. However, the "new" science (especially quantum mechanics, complexity,…

The essays in this book illustrate a conceptual model for analyzing the social and economic problems of the Appalachian region. The model is variously called Colonialism, Internal Colonialism, Exploitation, or External Oppression. It highlights the process through which dominant outside industrial interests establish control, exploit the region,…

Recent research on the impact of economics on mental and physical health has raised fundamental questions about structural elements in the macro-economy and their role in creating stress. This paper reviews and integrates these sometimes conflicting findings into a cohesive model. Structural elements of our current economic system are identified…

Analysis of racism has shifted in focus over the years from concentration on individual/interpersonal processes to considerations of organizational variables that maintain racist outcomes. The concept of organizational or institutional racism refers to processes, behaviors, policies, or procedures that covertly sanction unequal access to goods and…

"Communcacion popular" is an attempt by the peasant classes in Latin America to set up communication channels, independent of the hierarchy of intermediaries, that link them to the ruling elite. This language of liberation is self-reliant and defiant, coloring every aspect of its participants' lives. Its channels of communication are…

Through the conceptual use of systems analysis, systems which impinge upon current urban education are discussed in this paper. Examples are offered of subsystem changes within education and ways these changes affect the results of the educational system. Relationships between urban education and the United States social and economic systems are…

This document contains chapter 7 of the final report of the Project on Social Architecture in Education. Chapter 7 is about a new open-space elementary school. The hopes were to create a humanely oriented, flexible program, in which teaching teams would utilize the open space in creative ways, emphasizing individualization. The early planning left…

The paper examines the relationship of values to education and stresses the need to design socially relevant educational systems. Problems which have contributed to the failure of most educational systems to reflect overall cultural values are identified. These include that educators are often oblivious to social needs and are unwilling to suggest…

EFFECTIVE SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT DEPENDS UPON AN ANALYSIS OF SCHOOLS AS SOCIAL SYSTEMS AND THE DETERMINATION OF THOSE STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES MOST PROMISING AS ENTRY POINTS FOR CHANGE EFFORTS. FIVE FEATURES ARE CENTRAL TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOL--ITS CHILDREN-CHANGING EMPHASIS, LOCAL CONTROL, NONVOLUNTARY NATURE, RELATIVE ISOLATION FROM OTHER…

THIS STARTER BIBLIOGRAPHY LISTS 154 BOOKS, ARTICLES, AND MONOGRAPHS PUBLISHED BETWEEN 1932 AND 1968 IN THE SUBJECT AREA BROADLY DESIGNATED AS "PLANNED CHANGE." EMPHASIS IS ON THE SCHOOL AS A SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND THE CONTRIBUTION OF SOCIOLOGICAL THOUGHT IN AFFECTING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE. SCHEMATIC FIGURES ARE INCLUDED TO CLARIFY ORGANIZATION OF…