This report describes a program to produce four videotapes to be used to enhance previously produced materials that integrated teaching about alternative dispute processes into standard first-year law school courses at the University of Missouri-Columbia (UM-C). Another objective of this project was a comparative evaluation of the previously…

This document is intended to assist states in implementing the mediation requirements in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as amended in 1997. These provisions include parent participation in collaborative decision-making and the right of parents to challenge decisions about their child's education program. Increased use of…

This document analyzes the responses to a survey conducted in 1997 on the role of the Ombuds Office in higher education, and also considers the characteristics of professional neutrality needed for successful conflict resolution. Of 178 institutions surveyed, 109 responses include 54 institutions with ombudsmen, 7 without such a position but with…

This report presents an analysis of the results of a survey of State Directors of Special Education on their state mediation systems. It notes requirements under the 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that a mediation process must be available to parents desiring its use in conflict resolution. This report…

This booklet examines two frequently used public policy education models and illustrates how they may be used to develop and conduct extension education programs for communities struggling with change in general and for communities dealing with growth management issues in particular. The booklet opens with a brief discussion of key areas of…

Education must be served by education law. This chapter analyzes determinants to education law and recommends that corrective inquiry begin with the National Organization on Legal Problems of Education (NOLPE). Special interest advocacy groups can be deterrents to education law. For example, the Supreme Court made contradictory decisions in 1982…

This report summarizes findings from a study concerned with Arizona school safety. The survey component highlights safety-related policy information across 300 schools; the interview component highlights school-safety perceptions of 64 staff across 16 schools. Various policies and programs that respond to internal and external threats to school…

In Thailand, university autonomy has varied over time and by institution type. Because of their history, universities and faculty are respected and accorded much freedom, and also depended upon as sources of information and opinion aimed at achieving balance and social justice. In a May 1992 national crisis, universities combined voices…

A fictitious memorandum from Niccolo Machiavelli, a 15th-century author, to college presidents, senior administrators, and faculty leaders seeking change in higher education offers suggestions for organizational development and governance in the form of ten rules and related change tactics. Topics addressed include integrity, team-building,…

This second volume of a four-volume evaluation of the 1988-89 New York City School Community Education Program (also known as the Umbrella Program) comprises reports evaluating nine innovative elementary school projects on social, ethnical, and environmental studies, four of which included staff development workshops. Evaluation sources included…

This chapter focuses on the need for a revised relationship between schools and the courts through the concept of preventive law. The chapter reviews court cases and presents an overview of conflict resolution models and strategies for reducing litigation. Preventive law assumes that greater use of its strategies affords a lesser need for conflict…

As studies of organizational development have focused increasingly in recent years on stages of decline and death, theories of revolutionary adaptation have gained currency. The theory of organizational retrenchment developed in this paper is divided into five chronological stages: (1) preresponse, (2) emerging awareness and buying time, (3) alarm…

A school board member describes how the use of four elements helped the board win public support for a referendum that was strongly opposed by an organized, respected committee: (1) Use of the media; rather than inviting press coverage of arguments by holding large public meetings, the board held numerous small, informative meetings. In this…

This book was designed to help school administrators, board members, and teachers improve effectiveness and cooperation at the bargaining table. It charts the history of collective bargaining and discusses changes now taking place in education that will likely affect negotiations. Following the overview of collective-bargaining history in chapter…

Violence pervades schools across the nation, disrupting school functioning and preventing students and teachers from learning and teaching. The most effective crisis management and response strategies are designed by a school team that includes administrators, faculty and staff, students, parents, bus drivers and other support staff, as well as…