Presents an expenditure structure organized into nine elements that help reveal the educational strategies behind a school's use of resources. Structure also includes a set of resource indicators. When school budget data and resource indicators are organized according to the expenditure structure, strategies such as class-size reduction and a…

Considers the development of equality in public education since the Brown v. Board of Education decision. The 1973 Rodriguez decision has had consequences as profound as those of Brown by hobbling attempts to secure a fair distributions of resources in U.S. public schools. The importance of educational reform as an aspect of social justice is…

This review draws on William Massy's recent book--"Honoring the Trust: Quality and Cost Containment in Higher Education" (Anker Publishing, 2003)--to establish the case for change and to suggest some of the tools to better manage institutions. Also included are two disparate resources to help reach that goal--resources that are used by…

With the enactment of the NCLB mandates, emphasis on high-stakes testing became more prevalent than ever. Some argue that high-stakes tests can be a driving force behind fundamental change in schools. Whether or not this type of test-driven change leads to school improvement is an empirical question. What we do know is that high-stake testing can…

This book describes the rationale and research underlying the testing of an "audit" that explored how school districts organize themselves to reform middle-grades education. The volume is intended for those who seek to improve achievement, equity, and learning communities. Section 1 describes the theory, research, and framework for district…

Swedish school reform since the 1970s has involved a shift in policy and underlying values throughout the entire implementation process. Educational reform has broken into loosely connected fragments with relevant reform makers at all educational levels. Despite a newly decentralized process, observed changes are not really structural. Includes…

The Australian government has formulated policies for welding the country's higher education into a unified national system as an efficiency measure. Actually, the system will not be unified; institutions will achieve standing through intense competition over scarce resources. The sectoral rivalry and institutional imitation rampant under the…

Higher education must look to itself, not just government, to improve teaching, training, and learning. It must empower individuals to achieve their goals better within society's context, explore how it can do that more effectively, and go outside academe to assure public interest, resources, and programs supportive of its work. (MSE)

Uses a systems framework to analyze the creation of student support services for distance education at Regents College: electronic advising, electronic peer network, online course database, online bookstore, virtual library, and alumni services website. Addresses the issues involved in converting distance education programs from print-based and…

This article reports on the values and moral dilemmas of one Icelandic headteacher. The article draws on doctoral research currently being conducted with educational leaders in Icelandic basic schools. The research explores the values underpinning the work of female and male educational leaders and how values impact upon their actions, in…

Comprehensive school reform is a type of reform process directed at primary and secondary education that relies on the simultaneous change of all elements of a school's operating environment aligned with a central, guiding vision. This new approach was developed in response to the growing dissatisfaction with the traditional piecemeal reform,…

Presents a study of elementary school classrooms and instructional groups that shows how school systems successively transform the composition of schools, grades, and classes in the process of allocating and using resources. Examines how course difficulty constrains instructional group composition, instruction applied to groups, and learning of…

This paper synthesizes case studies involving the translation of proposals for educational programs into practice and presents implications for program planners and managers. (Author/IRT)

Traces the evolution of views on early education from before Project Head Start (1965) to the present. Emphasizes the importance of education during the first years of life and recommends that more resources be made available for parents and teachers of young children. (Author/GC)