Reviews the literature on trends in community college finance, focusing on trends in support patterns, expenditures, state funding, tuition, student loans and default rates, adult education funding, federal support, and comparable practices in other nations. (DMM)

Examines research into reforming the school-year calendar in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Discusses anticipated advantages, summer learning loss, and possible solutions. Describes the TARDIS (Time and Resource Distribution in Schools) Project. Planners must analyze learning needs and consult stakeholders before changing…

This report provides an overview of the use of functional assessment in the evaluation of individuals with psychiatric disabilities. It begins by discussing the difficulties with traditional forms of assessment and the development of functional assessment, particularly in the field of psychiatric rehabilitation. The need to not rely on any single…

Nearly all school reforms, regardless of their scope or intended target, share a number of characteristics. This report reviews the essential elements of planning, implementing, and sustaining school reform and presents eight key lessons to guide prospective reformers. The lessons are drawn from 12 major studies of education reform funded by the…

Needs assessment is a young and growing field. Needs assessments contribute to effective educational planning and help educators improve services to students. Needs assessment can be used to identify goals and objectives, but probably has the most utility as a problem-focusing strategy that includes the following sequence: (1) identification of…

This monograph reviews the literature pertaining to inservice education and summarizes its contents relating to several broad themes: planning and instructional concerns in inservice education, problems relating to administration and coordination of inservice programs, and elements common to successful programs. The literature of inservice…

A number of policy studies on school segregation are reviewed in this article, intended for school district administrators and policy makers who must assess the segregative effects of their own school systems' policies and practices. Two types of studies are considered, the first concerning the racial/ethnic mix of pupils, and the second…

A critical examination of some basic claims and issues associated with needs assessment is presented. This paper identifies the various meanings and methods associated with needs assessment, including some of the evidence concerning differences in actual practice. Issues which arise as a result of various approaches to needs assessment are…

The book identifies critical variables that influence the success or failure of staff development programs for social studies teachers and provides suggestions for planning and implementing effective inservice activities. It is based on interviews with 24 educators of diverse backgrounds and the authors' own practical field experiences as well as…

Discusses the need to cope effectively with technological transitions in library technical services and to plan for successful staff development. The areas discussed include changing job skills, financial planning, ergonomics, innovative partnerships, training, and an emphasis on human resources development. (21 references) (Author/CLB)

Describes two types of program budgeting that were well received in the literature of the 1960s and 1970s. The results of a survey which examined the impact of zero-based budgeting (ZBB) and planning-programming-budgeting system (PPBS) on library budgets are presented, and potentially useful aspects of program budgeting are identified. (CLB)

Instructional resources for teacher preparation are too thinly distributed and improperly structured to justify the numbers of institutions now engaging in such programs. The next decades should see a substantial reduction in the number of teacher preparation programs and institutions. (Author/MSE)

The importance of private schools in Argentina is in contrast with the little attention they have been given in research on the country's education system. This paper has two aims: (1) to provide a brief summary of the outstanding milestones of educational privatization in Argentina; and (2) to review some of the most significant features of the…

The components of effective urban school desegregation are familiar to researchers. These are examined and explained. They include racial ratios, assignment policies, long term effects, school preparation, age to begin, faculty and staff desegregation, implementation, allocation of resources, and government policies. Social scientists can provide…

Common patterns among developing countries' problems with teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) include (1) limited economic resources, (2) counter-productive policy shifts, (3) lack of professional expertise, (4) uncritical adoption of Western techniques, and (5) negative language attitudes. EFL teacher-training programs must recognize…