In this speech, President Clinton asserts that educational enterprise is now more important than ever and that a candid assessment of it is needed. The American educational system faces unique challenges--a more diverse student population in terms of income, race, ethnicity, and background; fractured authority and financing; schools burdened by…

This paper attempts to define the role of special education and special educators in current educational reform efforts and to provide direction to the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE), by reviewing current reform initiatives in the context of the past, present, and future of educating children with…

This paper uses systems theory and force field analysis to evaluate the potential for combining special education with America 2000 national educational strategy and goals. A brief history of educational reform attempts is followed by an explanation of systems theory and the school as a social system. Force field analysis is used as a tool for…

As part of the Directory of Innovations Series, this volume provides information about programs and practices for educational improvement and school restructuring. It provides brief overviews of about 150 high school or district-wide programs with descriptions of the following: (1) goals; (2) location; (3) demographics; (4) how it works; (5) how…

In the current environment of global economic restructuring, changes in work and employment, and large-scale immigration to the United States, adult basic education (ABE) is facing demands that it be accountable for its performance by demonstrating its success in terms of student and societal outcomes. The increasing calls for ABE to develop a…

Developed in response to the report, "Beyond Access: A Reassessment of California Community Colleges," this position paper by the California Community College Trustees (CCCT) presents three reform recommendations for community college governance. After offering support for many of the specific proposals of the report, the position paper…

An integrative approach to departmental design proposed for the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of the District of Columbia is described. The proposed curriculum classification framework for faculty assignment consists of three matrices: social behavior and humanities courses, technical courses, and philosophical courses. For the…

West Virginia's school improvement plan, emphasizing learning outcomes, mandates excellent education for all students. Following an executive summary, this paper discusses, first, the conflict between excellence and equity in educational reform, and West Virginia's intent to resolve that conflict; second, the legal foundations of the master plan,…

The role of state-level goals in providing a framework for assessing the performance of postsecondary education in Georgia is considered. The effort of the Governor's Committee on Postsecondary Education in developing goals and indicators of goal achievement and in analyzing performance is described. The Committee developed a set of goals and…

The Indiana State Advisory Council on Career Education was appointed to aid in identifying the present status and needs of career education and to interpret and disseminate such data to the general public. The needs of students were assessed through the use of six survey instruments which were administered to superintendents, principals, teachers,…

The use of the Community College Goals Inventory (CCGI) to assess priorities assigned to institutional goals and to estimate priority changes required to reach intended outcomes was studied. The CCGI consists of goal statements that mainly cover outcome and process goal areas. Respondents indicate their perceptions of how much importance is…

In exploring the formal and informal role of student government in college organization and how that role differs in small community colleges, two different models for student government operation are reviewed: a power-driven organization that describes the status quo and a purpose-driven organization that illustrates options available to college…

The first segment of a long-term educational assessment plan, for which this three-part report was compiled, called for a study that would survey the status of English language arts programs in the province of British Columbia and serve as a pilot for future assessment programs. This portion of the study deals with the initial phase of the…

The guidebook is intended to acquaint vocational educators with two specific management strategies: Management by Objectives (MBO) and the Program Planning and Budget System (PPBS). The long range goal of this project is the formation of a model local annual plan and model five year plan for vocational education in local school districts…

Comparative data on the perceptions of objectives and the performance of schools in meeting these objectives among the various status groups involved in secondary education that extends previous research efforts by offering a combined measure of dissatisfaction is reported in this paper. The proposed measure of satisfaction with the school system…