The goal of the Michigan plan for school staff development is to clearly describe a comprehensive approach to staff development. The plan relies on two basic assumptions. The first is that local school staff should be involved in the planning process. The second is that the state has a unique and specific role to play in facilitating quality…

Accountability currently is an important concept throughout education. Michigan has assumed leadership among the States in exploring and applying accountability procedures. The purpose of this report is to examine the quality and implications of that leadership. Specifically, the authors' purpose is to assess the Michigan Accountability System…

In light of current predictions of an imminent teacher shortage, this article suggests using statewide data collection systems to provide more accurate measures of teacher supply and demand. The Michigan Department of Education has implemented such a system. (Author/WD)

In this study, the author explores research university departments in which there is instructional congruence, or a culture in which individuals perceive that their beliefs about teaching align with their institution because department members have constructed shared understandings of effective teaching and of the value they place on instruction.…

Site visits were conducted at six state departments of vocational education (Texas, Illinois, Utah, South Carolina, Michigan, and Indiana) to assess the level of articulation with related educational dissemination agencies. These states represented a variety of settings which illustrated the effects of geography, population size, levels of past…

Discusses Michigan's state-supported programs for the gifted. (IRT)

A 1987 task force working on Michigan's Employability Skills Assessment Project recommended a portfolio approach to help students develop teamwork, personal management, and workforce readiness skills. Michigan's plan offers a chance for schools to integrate experiences in students' lives with school learning. Judith Schaftenaar's sidebar presents…

One view of accountability focuses on schemes that assume that if government can get more rational information and use it in more scientific ways, the schools' performance can be improved; the other assumes that the schools' problems are less scientific than political and that clients and constituents should influence educational decisions more…

Reveals that Michigan teachers do not regard the state department's communications on accountability as authoritative and predicts that the teachers will withhold their cooperation from the program. (Author/IRT)

Results of school district reorganization may be viewed in a number of ways. Frequently progress is measured in terms of the number of local districts eliminated by incorporating their territory in larger units. Results may likewise be measured by increases in the number of new districts having certain characteristics of size or other features…

The economic situation has resulted in funding cuts for education from both federal and state sources. The state of Michigan's budget for education has been reduced in all areas. The effects of retrenchment are discussed in relation to local schools, higher education, teacher education, and state agencies. (JN)

This study was designed to examine the school's role as a context of professional community for secondary school teachers. The literature suggests that conditions of shared goals, coherent instructional plans and curriculum, and collaboration within a faculty is largely a matter of effective site management. This paper questions the top down view…

This document is a guide to sources of information on endangered species distribution in Michigan. It was prepared for CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) students who will collect the documents. The guide is divided into three major sections. The first section includes an introduction (briefly discussing endangered, rare, threatened…

This questionnaire was designed for state education personnel who wish to ascertain the number and nature of competency-based teacher education programs in their state. The document in its present form has been field tested in two states in which surveys were conducted using preliminary versions of this form. The form may be modified to obtain…

While most information dissemination activity in education is taking place at the national level within systems that emphasize documents, such as ERIC, the most important developments for individual teachers should take place at the state and local levels. SEEKER III, a local automated system in Michigan, is tied in with the Michigan Department of…