What does it take to transform a large, bureaucratic institution with a fractured culture and a compliance orientation into a nurturing, collaborative, vision-directed organization? This report and the accompanying research brief endeavor to answer that question by examining a humanistic and systems thinking approach to cultural change that took…

Explores the link between the management of fiscal retrenchment and the need for more effective schools. Describes school improvement strategies based on the school effectiveness research and on past experience with educational change programs. A final section discusses the potential role of these strategies in the larger context of educational…

This report describes, from a technical assistance viewpoint, a 3-year renewal program conducted in a New York City intermediate school. The program was one of nine selected as a demonstration site by the Documentation and Technical Assistance (DTA) Project, with the purpose of applying educational research to enhance the problem solving capacity…

This monograph presents a theory of helping practice for groups that aim to facilitate a sustained capacity for problem solving in urban public schools. The theory is based on information gathered by the Documentation and Technical Assistance project (DTA) of the Center for New Schools (Chicago, Illinois), in the process of observing experiences…

The Technical Assistance Base (TAB) was established to provide the National Diffusion Network (NDN), a nationwide federal effort at school improvement, with the technical support needed to help NDN members strengthen their knowledge and capacities. This document reports on TAB's accomplishments over its first three years. Section one gives an…

This volume describes the evolution and implementation of the Junior High School Network Project (JHSN), one of nine programs selected by the Documentation and Technical Assistance (DTA) Project as demonstration sites for enhancing the problem solving capacities of urban schools. As described, the original proposal for the JHSN was directed toward…

This report describes the Montana Tribal College Development Program (MTCDP), a project designed to meet the educational and economic needs of the state's American Indian tribal communities. The document also includes a detailed evaluation of the program based on research results. The MTCDP was designed to improve services of seven American Indian…

This document gathers together nine papers prepared in conjunction with a series of four seminars, held from January through May 1982, on the Role of Technical Assistance in the Long Range Plan for School Improvement. The seminars included participants from higher education, intermediate units, and public school superintendents. The following…

The ways states are improving their literacy services for adults with disabilities were examined through a national survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) and National Institute for Literacy (NIFL) and case studies of three states: Oklahoma, Illinois, and Connecticut. The OVAE/NIFL…

Project Educational Quality in Adult Literacy (EQuAL) was initiated to improve the quality of adult basic and literacy education (ABLE) services provided to adult learners in Pennsylvania. Project EQuAL's objectives were as follows: (1) set performance standards to facilitate delivery of quality ABLE programs to adult learners; (2) institute a…