This packet is designed to assist educational leaders in presenting current research-based information on the characteristics of effective schools to their school staff. The packet is divided into five sections, each including a sample presentation script, transparency models, and worksheets for promoting group discussion. The first section is an…

This module for a 1-semester Total Quality Management (TQM) course for high school or community college students gives a brief introduction to some statistical tools. It includes a section on process variation that is intended to familiarize students with the causes of variation such as common and special causes. Statistical definitions are given…

This module for a 1-semester Total Quality Management (TQM) course for high school or community college students provides a classroom model to meet the needs of students learning TQM skills as well as other workplace skills. These workplace skills, sometimes called "SCANS competencies and skills," are a set of skills identified by the Secretary of…

Over recent years there has been an increasing amount of public and political discussion of educational directions and educational accountability in relation to Australian primary and secondary schools. The study reported in this monograph attempted to address these concerns through a four-stage process: a review of literature exploring community…

On-the-job learning experiences of 47 school administrators, representing a broad range of administrative settings and roles, are described in this collection of reflective narratives. The authors, who had completed at least one year of training with the California School Leadership Academy (CSLA), wrote of how they applied learning acquired…

The profession of educational leadership in the 21st century is changing. School leaders, educational administration faculty, and policymakers are endeavoring to redefine the profession in an era of ferment, during which the legitimacy of its knowledge base and the appropriateness of programs for preparing school leaders have been thrown into…

This training manual outlines a process for change that trainers in nutrition, community development, and other sectors can use to teach volunteers to help people in developing areas help themselves. Four series of training sessions are organized around the following four steps for effecting change: (1) listen and observe (learn what local…

Student Action Teams (SATs) were established in 20 Victoria, Australia, secondary schools in 1999, with 11 of those schools continuing with their teams in 2000. The Student Action Teams are comprised of groups of students who identify a school or community issue, research it, make plans and proposals about it, and take action on it. Such…

This document, which is intended for mangers at post-16 educational institutions in the United Kingdom, presents guidelines for managing curriculum change that were developed on the basis of case studies of the following further education (FE) colleges: Grey Skies College; Midshire College; and Happy Days College. The introduction explains how the…

This article presents the most recent results of a comparative review of early childhood education and care carried out by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Founded in 1961 and based in Paris, OECD is one of the world's most important sources of statistical, economic, and social data. Based on reviews in the…

Researchers have found that high-quality service learning programs are rich with benefits for schools, communities, and students. One hallmark of successful service learning programs is that they honor youth voice (meaning that they include young people in the creation and implementation of service opportunities). Elementary, middle, and high…

This book explores how two nations with widely divergent political economies, Germany and the United States (U.S.), embraced change in four contemporary settings. "Mutual Learning with Trade-Offs" (Kirsten Wever) discusses mutual learning and the distinguishing characteristics of the political economies of Germany and the U.S.…

This document reports on a European Training Foundation Advisory Forum study of vocational education and training (VET) and retraining in the regions of the European Union (EU) that synthesized overviews of the general country situations regarding the territorial organization of the VET system and policy and relevant case studies concerning…

The term "cooperative and mutual enterprises" (CMEs) was developed in 1999 by a mutuality task force in Oxfordshire, England, as a modern way of reasserting the notion of the adult education movement as a cooperative movement for social (democratic) inclusion. CMEs recall the tradition of learning through clubs, unions, mechanics'…

This report is part of a multi-year project conducted by the Institute for Responsive Education (IRE) and Boston University components of the Center on Families, Communities, Schools and Children's Learning. The report draws on results of a series of focus groups and interviews conducted in 1994 and 1995 to explore how policymakers and parents,…