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…

Studied the impact of technology specialists on the use of technology among teachers in rural school districts in Georgia. Interviews with five technology specialists show that they provide assistance to teachers through staff development, technical assistance, and administrative support. (SLD)

This paper explores challenges and successes of efforts to improve instruction or classroom effectiveness. Policymakers' assumptions, perspectives, and decisions are reviewed and results presented from several studies of instructional improvement activities conducted in Maryland between 1978 and 1985. These activities included Project Basic, a…

This document considers the impact of federal policy in the dissemination and implementation of one government-sponsored school improvement program. It reports a study of Experience-Based Career Education (EBCE), a high school work-and-school program developed under the auspices of the National Institute of Education (NIE). The report begins…

In 1984, the State Board of Education, Department of Adult, Vocational, and Technical Education (DAVTE), contracted with an outside evaluator to assess the impact of the Illinois Quality Assistance Plan (QAP). (The QAP is a state-funded program for locally initiated, developed, implemented, and evaluated projects that was begun in Fiscal Year…

The New York City Bilingual Education Technical Assistance Center provided technical assistance and training to members of the instructional and administrative staffs working with limited-English-proficient (LEP) students throughout the city's 32 community school districts and the division of high schools. Specifically, in 1987-88 the program…

In 1990 the Michigan Inclusive Education Initiative was implemented by the state department of education to facilitate full inclusion of disabled students into regular classroom settings. This paper reports on implementation of inclusive education within the Marquette-Alger Intermediate School District (MAISD) in the Upper Peninsula region of…

The annual evaluation of a Texas regional resource center is presented. The center provides training and technical assistance for school district personnel participating in programs for limited English proficient (LEP) students. Federally funded and housed in the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, it serves 800 school districts with a…

This paper describes a multidimensional staff development program implemented by the Ames (Iowa) Community Schools, involving 11 schools, 350 teachers, and 5,000 students. Three governance options in staff development were established: the Individual Growth Fund which supported teachers in defraying the costs of individually selected staff…

Requirements in Public Law 94-142 make it advisable for regular education teachers to become directly involved with special education teachers in designing and delivering appropriate instruction for mildly handicapped students. To facilitate these cooperative endeavors, the National Inservice Network (NIN) has two major components. The first…