There is growing concern that a variety of factors threaten the sustainability of academic libraries: developing and preserving print and digital collections, supplying and supporting rapidly changing technological and networking infrastructure, providing free services, maintaining growing costs of library buildings, and lowering libraries'…

The author analyzed the gender, grade, sources of referral, and problem areas of 1,664 student-clients who consulted a counseling center for individual counseling over an 11-year period. The results showed that grade, sources of referral, and problem areas varied significantly over the years whereas gender did not. Students who consulted the…

Estate planners counseling families who have children with disabilities are increasingly confronted with planning dilemmas that mirror the social, financial, and societal issues presented by an aging population. It is not uncommon when discussing "special needs" planning with clients to discover that they are in their 70s or 80s and…

In November 1996, the voters of Montgomery County (Maryland) approved by referendum an amendment to the County Charter that changed the County Council's review and approval cycle of the six-year Capital Improvements Program (CIP) from an annual to biennial cycle. The referendum specified that in odd-numbered fiscal years (on-years) the County…

"Drama for Schools" ("DFS") is a professional development program in drama-based instruction shaped by theories of critical pedagogy and constructivism. In 2007, the Director of "DFS" invited an educational psychology faculty member to develop a research and evaluation component for the program. This article discusses…

The America's Promise Alliance is supporting 50 state and at least 50 city Dropout Prevention Summits to be held by 2010. The purposes of the Dropout Prevention Summits are many, but the primary intention is to increase public awareness of the dropout and college-readiness crisis. The Forum for Youth Investment, America's Promise Alliance, United…

Even though there's been a slight reprieve in energy costs, the reality is that the cost of non-renewable energy is increasing, and state education budgets are shrinking. One way to keep energy and operations costs from overshadowing education budgets is to develop a 10-year energy audit plan to eliminate waste. First, facility managers should…

Since coastal communities are already subjected to the impacts of climate change, adaptation has become a necessity. This article presents competencies demonstrated by Canadian municipal employees during an adaptation process to sea level rise. To adapt, the participants demonstrated the following competencies: problem solving (highlighting…

Financial stewardship by college governing boards too often stops at balancing the budget. That was the message two finance experts presented last week during the annual meeting of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges. Furthermore, the yearly budget exercise can give trustees a misperception of their institutions'…

This article looks at various forms school improvement can take, e.g., single-loop, double-loop, and deutero learning, and posits that mechanistic views of, and approaches to, school improvement are not likely to produce optimal results. It then explores the potential benefits of more organic views and approaches, focusing on the development of…

Faced with an unsteady economy and fluctuating learning needs, planning a learning strategy designed to last longer than the next six months can be a tall order. But a long-range learning plan can provide a road map for success. In this article, four companies (KPMG LLP, CarMax, DPR Construction, and EMC Corp.) describe their learning plans, and…

All industrialized countries are grappling with a common problem--how to provide assistance of various kinds to their rapidly aging populations. The problem for countries searching for models of efficient and high-quality long-term care (LTC) policies is that fewer than a dozen countries have government-organized, formal LTC policies. Relatively…

As part of its work to advance the multiple pathways approach to high school education, the James Irvine Foundation engaged the Bridgespan Group to develop a framework for assessing the nature and needs of the fields in which nonprofits operate. These agents of change often struggle to understand how to focus their field-building investments and…

When the five-member Board of the Alameda Unified School District selected Kirsten Vital as the new superintendent in 2009, they chose someone from outside their tight-knit community. Board Trustee Margie Sherratt thought Vital was chosen to "get us moving," to be a change agent on closing the achievement gap. Vital, in her initial…

Presented herein is a statement of Cornelia M. Ashby, Director Education, Workforce, and Income Security. The early efforts of the District of Columbia Public Schools' (DCPS) to improve student achievement focused on implementing initiatives to improve student performance, including implementing a new staffing model; restructuring underperforming…