School improvement plans (SIPs) have become a central feature of schooling. Educational leaders experience tension between balancing compliance with accountability demands and continuous improvement, and neither of these lenses is centered in the social justice necessary for closing opportunity gaps. We propose a new rubric for assessing the…

Policy discussions about funding in higher education focus primarily on revenues needed to balance budgets from year to year, rather than on how funds need to be invested to meet strategic priorities. The data in "Trends" show that the incremental approach to fundraising and spending has resulted in a slow disinvestment in core…

Are there management tools that professionals use in business that academics have used successfully in higher education? The answer to that question is "yes", and the balanced scorecard (BSC) is one such tool. The author reports on measures that administrators chose for the BSCs of 2 educational institutions whose successes have been…

Assessment of specialized programs, such as logistics and supply chain management program described here, may pose challenges because previous experience are less widely shared than in the more mainline subjects. This case study provides one model that may guide other faculties facing a similar assignment. The report detailed the steps followed to…

The purpose of this self-evaluation manual is to provide the procedures and instrumentation through which vocational education program personnel may evaluate or re-evaluate the value and effectiveness of their program. The manual is based upon statewide goals and objectives of vocational education as determined in 1983 by the project advisory…

Three common evaluation models are the scientific, interactive, and hybrid. A study of evaluation projects mandated by the Wisconsin legislature revealed that the hybrid model was most effective in achieving policy planning and policy control utilization, the interactive approach provided aid to individual utilization, and the scientific approach…

A revision of an earlier rough draft entitled "Local School and System-Wide Planning," this report outlines the planning process. Flow charts and a narrative description of a Central Office and Local School Planning Cycle are provided. This cycle consists of the following steps: (1) superintendent's statement on the implementation of…

A locally developed long-range plan is the key to effective library service, and can account for circumstances unique to the service area that could not be anticipated from a statewide or national perspective. These standards are meant to guide Wisconsin libraries in structuring their own locally-focused planning efforts. Standards in the…

A perspective of state assessment, state goal-setting, and state standards adoption is presented. Relationships among these three concepts are noted and the relationship of all three to a system orientation is explored. The recent history of national and state assessment is documented. Attention is given in this historical overview to the manner…

This document describes the development of a Wisconsin state plan for career education. First, the profile of the proposal is presented. Next, the major activities are described, including formation of the advisory group; needs assessment of students, educational staff, and community groups; identification of resources; and the development of…

This report describes phase VI of the Equity Staff Development project, an ongoing project to achieve equity and diversity at Wisconsin technical colleges by creating an institutional climate supporting achievement by all students. Among the project's major activities and outcomes are the following: the existing train-the-trainer format of peer…

Since 1988, Western Wisconsin Technical College (WWTC) has taken a leadership role in integrating institutional effectiveness activities within the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS). In December 1992, the WTCS Administrators Association and the WTCS State Board agreed to work with the University of Michigan's Community College Consortium…

This report describes a workshop for 24 midlevel managers that provided information on change areas critical to program planning in the Wisconsin Vocational, Technical, and Adult Education (VTAE) system. These change areas include technology, labor market, demographic, and educational trends. In addition, techniques for identifying and forecasting…

Nineteen Wisconsin counties were the site of the four-year Rural Development Demonstration Project, one of five such projects in the nation. Among the project's objectives were to accelerate sound economic, social, cultural and environmental development and to provide alternatives for living in non-metropolitan areas while providing greater…

This resource and planning guide is designed to help Wisconsin school districts, community agency personnel, and education practitioners implement the designated vocational instruction (DVI) approach and thereby accelerate and enhance the ability of disabled students to meet specific instructional competencies and educational outcomes. The…