This brief paper is a presentation that preceeded another case of considering the ongoing dialogue on the advantages and disadvantages of centralized and decentralized school-improvement processes. It attempts to raise a number of questions about the relationship between state-designed standards and accountability initiatives and change and…

This book examines the effects of reforms in some countries' national education systems, noting that far from improving education, they have often made it more difficult for teachers to do a good job in the classroom. It focuses on how teaching has changed and continues to change in England's educational reform climate. The book argues that many…

This article discusses some of the social/political issues that are raised in relation to declining school enrollment and school consolidation. Alternatives to the closing of schools in the face of declining enrollment are discussed. (Author/EB)

Outlines a 10-year plan for school board members to restructure individual school districts. The objectives are to fund groups of teachers directly and establish teaching as the premier professional position in the school district. (MLF)

This paper presents educational collaboration as a structured process and interactive relationship among individuals that focuses on multiple outcomes in a school's organizational structures. The paper describes characteristics of a collaborative school and the professional behaviors that support collaboration; outlines strategies that facilitate…

Discusses strategic choices facing the Open University (United Kingdom) and other distance education institutions with the availability of electronic data processing and an increasingly competitive environment in traditional higher education institutions. Topics addressed include distance education and industrial production; production in the Open…

Restructuring will be a major activity of many colleges and universities in the next decade, requiring difficult decisions. A proactive approach is most effective. Considerations include acknowledging the importance of leadership in the process; managing leadership; deciding on restructuring versus incremental change; managing the size and…

Despite current interest with the concept of the "New American School" model discussed in "America 2000," school systems continue to approach educational reform and restructuring by tinkering with key organizational components in isolation. The total school organization requires assessment and profiling to determine which key components are drags…

A number of researchers, as well as practicing teachers and administrators, have reached similar conclusions about what makes a school effective: (1) the behavior of teachers, administrators, and students; (2) the quality, as well as the quantity of effort, materials, and time; and (3) the curriculum--both what is taught and how it is taught. The…

Supplementary text materials for graduate courses in the field of higher education are presented in 29 chapters on organization, governance, and internal and external constraints on governance. Chapter titles and authors include: "Alternative Models of Governance in Higher Education" (J. Victor Baldridge, David V. Curtis, George P.…

Cognitive imaging was investigated as one factor associated with the development of the University of New Mexico from an undergraduate teaching institution toward becoming a nationally-ranked graduate research university. A longitudinal, ethnohistorical study was undertaken for the 1967-1978 period. The qualitative research methodology involved an…

Results of a followup legislative review of the operation of the University of Mississippi School of Dentistry are summarized. An initial 1982 evaluation of the dental school revealed numerous deficiencies in financial and operational management. Among other things, the 1982 report concluded the the dental school, the third smallest in the United…

The effectiveness of the financial management practices and the efficiency of the operations of the University of Mississippi School of Dentistry were evaluated, and recommendations to improve operations were offered by the legislative review committee. While the primary emphasis was effective cost management, attention was also directed to: the…

The admission that no one best method exists for educating all children was the beginning of the alternative school movement. Alternative education, in whatever form it assumes, must allow for real parent/student choice through the creation of a number of educational options. These optional public schools take many forms and may be classified…

The departmental concept, while widely accepted in the Anglo-Saxon nations as a way to organize educational institutions into homogenous groups, is not used in many continental European countries and elsewhere. This paper analyzes various structures for organizing academic institutions at lower levels in certain national systems, dissects the most…