This guide looks at demands on leaders and managers in adult and community learning (ACL) in the roles and issues they face in the context of quality improvement (QI). It suggests practical approaches for improving the quality of provision for adults. The guide's design builds on current practice toward the desired state of excellence in all…

Effective strategic planning has clearly become a skill that is essential to the survival of managers in public and private sector agencies alike. While sometimes thought of as being an overly quantitative and excessively time-consuming activity, strategic planning does not need to be characterized in these terms. In its simplest and most…

School reform efforts today have a personal focus that emphasizes attending to the problems faced by individual at-risk students. After outlining the impact of student dropouts, this document uses information from a review of 150 at-risk student programs described in related professional literature to describe six basic weaknesses in current…

This packet contains a set of principles for core skills development together with corresponding activities for teachers and learners that have been developed in Great Britain. Core skills are defined as transferable skills central to academic, vocational, and personal development. An introduction explains the FEU's principles and guidelines for…

This handbook describes a workshop designed to help administrative personnel improve school system writing programs. The handbook contains agendas for one-day and two-day workshops, and modules that provide (1) a case study of a writing program coordinator; (2) a discussion of the basic elements of a writing program, including program philosophy,…

Contract food management can contain food costs and, with the contractor's team of food service professionals, provide creative programs that teach nutrition and add interest to school meals. (MLF)

Based on the work of the National Council on Research in Child Welfare (NCRCW), this handbook is designed to help social service agency executives cope with changing times for child welfare agencies, strengthen traditional services to meet today's needs, and analyze and plan for the future. The manual aims to demystify quality improvement theory…

A discussion of institutional and program evaluation in higher education focuses on the need for congruence between the purposes of the assessment and the procedures used to accomplish it. The factors relating to success in evaluation are examined, with special attention given to those that promote improvement. (Author/MSE)

This technical assistance guide was developed to consolidate a statewide understanding of the effort to systematize the delivery of employment and training programs through the local formation of job centers in Wisconsin, and to provide a compilation, drawn from 20 local models, that explains how the programs are delivered. The guide is organized…

Noting that volunteer programs succeed only with careful forethought and maintenance, this book is designed to provide information necessary to create and operate a successful volunteer program in an elementary school setting. Steps in thinking about volunteers in innovative ways, recruitment, training, maintaining program effectiveness, and…

This paper reports on a proposed project to be undertaken to improve the morale, image, and service of the Bursar's Office at Nova Southeastern University. The project calls for: (1) a brainstorming meeting of the bursar's office staff; (2) bursar's office staff to offer suggestions to improve services; (3) the encouragement of teamwork and…

The furniture and equipment inventory system of the Montgomery County Public Schools is examined in this report. Following a summary, comments provided by the Office of the Associate Superintendent for Supportive Services relating to recommendations made in the report are presented. The first chapter provides an introduction, background, program…

Behavioral, educational, and organizational methods for improving the degree to which workers comply with the objectives of industrial health promotion programs are discussed. Compliance can be enhanced through: (1) better program location and scheduling; (2) increased worker satisfaction; (3) use of psychological and educational techniques; and…

Kent State University (Ohio) has focused on developing an organizational culture that expects and promotes quality. A college finance division statement, distributed to division staff, identifies its values and beliefs and emphasizes a culture in which planning, empowerment, and continuous improvement are key elements. (MSE)

This digest is based on a full-length report (with the same title) on advisory committees to universities and colleges. Under decreased resources and increased pressures for more accountability, advisory committees are an effective way for colleges and universities to connect with their environments. An advisory committee is a group of volunteers…