This book examines the factors affecting the successful implementation of Education Sector Plans in developing countries. It provides a detailed comparison that draws on data from 27 countries to offer careful research conclusions and policy recommendations. Offering a detailed comparison of the schooling situation (e.g. availability of potable…

With the passage of the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states were required to add a fifth indicator on "School Quality or Student Success" (SQSS) to their school accountability systems. An analysis of submitted ESSA state plans found that 13 states included measures of school climate as their SQSS indicator or incorporated…

This is the first report from an ongoing study of four urban school districts (New York, New Orleans, Chicago, and the District of Columbia) that are experimenting with new school designs and new ways of holding schools accountable for performance. This report introduces the idea of a "portfolio school district," and shows how some leading school…

Planning to meet the needs of the future is a critical concern of an Arizona school district. The Mesa Action Planning System (MAPS) provides a framework for community involvement with a 200-member community-based planning committee, selected from constituent groups, and a 12-member steering committee. The planning committee will receive a summary…

Some baseline information is offered in this study to help determine the ends to which the strategic planning processes are being put and the outcomes that are being pursued. A conceptual overview of planning models and the role of planners are presented. The complete study comprises a two-stage process of data collection. First, strategic plans…

Previous management research supports the view that comprehensive planning and participative decision-making are important factors in reducing community opposition to educational policies. To investigate the possibility that neither of these strategies necessarily has this effect, a survey was undertaken of 53 school districts that had experienced…

It has been postulated that in effective schools, there is less variability in student achievement according to socioeconomic status. This study was to investigate the amount of variation in student scores for effective and ineffective schools. Data were utilized from all 500 Pennsylvania school districts. The variance in student achievement was…

Linking Outcomes to Organizational Planning (LOOP) was initiated during the 1984-85 school year in the Austin (Texas) Independent School District. LOOP was designed to ensure that evaluation, research, and informal findings became part of the instructional planning loop; to provide information to the Superintendent on progress toward priorities…

The Saginaw Successful Schools Project (SSSP) is a structured process through which school staffs can cooperatively identify and address their most needed areas for improvement. It is a structured approach that integrates group process principles of participation in decision making with solid research on instructional and school effectiveness.…

This manual outlines a process for evaluating continuing education divisions within the public school districts of British Columbia. Its purpose is to assist local personnel to plan and conduct evaluations within their own districts. Guidelines and suggestions are included for each group associated with the evaluation. In some cases, sample…

A case study describes how a rural local education agency (Allegany County, Maryland) developed a comprehensive staff development system. It presents some contextual and theoretical background information, summarizes the problem as perceived by key actors, and then describes a series of activities resulting in the development of the comprehensive…

A collaborative approach to solving school problems in Maryland emphasizes planned change through organization development processes. Organization development, a process of planned improvement in overall functioning, strives for sustained capacity in problem-solving by communication, goal-setting, conflict resolution, and commitment. The…

Public schools are often faced, when engaged in the task of developing annual goals, with the necessity of soliciting public input. To gather reliable input from the school community has been haphazard and uneven. Consolidated High School District 230 (Palos Hills, Illinois) employed the Public Opinion Laboratory, a professional survey firm, to…

This report (1) describes a Nebraska school district's implementation of a central data processing capability and (2) summarizes study findings researched in cooperation with International Business Machines (IBM). In the mid-seventies, the district hired data processing personnel and introduced microcomputers into buildings; lack of…

This booklet of support materials is intended for use with the publication, "Manual for Evaluation of Occupational Education Programs." The support materials include the forms to be used in preparing for, conducting, and reporting upon the assessment of occupational education programs. Forms are to be reproduced locally. Section 1…