"Keeping Pace" has several goals. First, it strives to add to the body of knowledge about online education policy and practice, and make recommendations for advances. Second, it serves as a reference source for information about programs and policies across the country, both for policymakers and practitioners who are new to online…

Identifies five institutional forms of library consortia, one of which is local consortia or proximal networks, and discusses issues that apply to local library consortia. Highlights include redefinition of the library role, appropriate technology, bibliographic control, direct access, governance, and financing. (10 references) (CLB)

Issues concerning a state policy supporting cooperative ventures among colleges and universities in Pennsylvania are discussed. It is suggested that a state policy encouraging successful interinstitutional cooperation must: avoid threatening the institutions, recognize that they must be the actual bargaining entities, inspire their interest…

ED QUEST (Quick Environmental Scanning Techniques) is a strategic planning process designed to identify emerging trends, issues, and events which portend threats or opportunities for colleges and universities, analyze their probable impact on the institution, and facilitate the development of appropriate institutional strategies. A workshop was…

This document presents a review of cost-containment initiatives relevant to higher education institutions. Originally commissioned to examine cost containment initiatives carried out by institutions affiliated with the Foundation for Independent Higher Education (FIHE), the paper was expanded to include a sector-wide review of three types of…

This paper describes the development of a New England Cooperative Extension Consortium created for the purpose of developing new approaches for meeting the Cooperative Extension mandate. The consortium formalizes a tradition of informal, multi-state cooperation among the New England Cooperative Extension Systems which operate as a flexible,…

This document is a compilation of 40 newsletter issues published by the Commission on Preservation and Access from 1988 through 1991. The Commission was established in 1986 to foster and support collaboration among libraries and allied organizations in order to ensure the preservation of the published record in all formats and to provide enhanced…

This issue focuses on support and cooperation among various components of the educational community, specifically as this has been achieved by the Willamette Valley (Oregon) Education Consortium, a research-based organization of school districts, educational agencies, and an institute of higher education. The first article describes how schools…

Sharing a local automated library system will generally reduce the costs of automation for each participating library and will facilitate the sharing of resources. To set up a consortium, libraries must first identify and agree on governance issues and methods for dealing with these issues. Issues range from ownership, management, and location of…

Ten rural school improvement clusters involving 63 districts, 7 colleges and universities, and 6 state departments of education have been developed in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and North Dakota through the work of the Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory's Rural Education Project. Four essential steps appear necessary for…

Discussed is a conference aimed at organizing the efforts to reform science education in the United States. Participants from business, industry, labor, scientific and engineering societies, and education associations were included. (CW)

This study describes the state of postsecondary assessment in Maryland, identifies cognitive or noncognitive areas assessed, investigates perceptions about the role of the institutional researcher in assessment activities, and analyzes information to guide the formation of an assessment consortium. The paper serves as a case study of the types of…

Alternative models of rural school improvement consortia were identified through a review of research literature in order to determine what existing models were applicable to rural school consortia in the northwest United States. Organization structure of rural school collaboratives and characteristics associated with successful functioning were…

To determine if a state-supported program of educational cooperatives would be beneficial to New Mexico's small schools, a review of the literature from 1960 was conducted and questionnaires were sent to selected New Mexico educators, followed by interviews. Approaches to shared services used by Texas and New York were investigated through the…

The state of interinstitutional cooperation among private colleges and universities in Indiana was studied in 1974 as part of a larger study, and three recommendations were offered namely, that cooperative arrangements should be encouraged; that such arrangements should involve clear goals using cost-benefit analysis as a criterion; and that the…