Project Follow Through involved a diverse and major set of implementation problems: (1) The initial program mandate for an action program clashed with the later switch to an experimental focus; (2) The selection of curriculum rather than structural changes as the major intervention led to greater uncertainty regarding the practices to be…

Although selecting goals and indicators is the most challenging task of performance funding, implementation requires development of other critical elements: success criteria to measure institutional performance; indicator weights for percent of funding allocated to each indicator; an allocation method for setting the relationship between…

Rural economic development presents a paradox of growth in population and jobs without corresponding improvement in local economic well-being. Four forces may impede nonmetropolitan development efforts. Growth of multiestablishment corporations makes traditional regional economic development models unrealistic. Rural industrialization is socially,…

Policy analysis is the process by which systematically collected information is provided to decision makers. As an integral part of a specific policy setting process and a comprehensive planned change process, such analyses can provide school administrators with much needed information to guide their decisions concerning district-wide…

This publication builds a conceptual framework that categorizes alternative policy instruments for educational reform into actions. It defines four categories of policy instruments and hypothesizes how each will operate in addressing different policy problems in different political and organizational contexts. Subsequent research will assess…

This case study was undertaken in order to discover if there are different types of policy language, and, if so, to describe relationships betweeen policy language types and policy implementation. Content analysis of three drafts of the state educational policy, "Standards for Approving Vermont's Public Schools," demonstrated the…

This document presents a brief overview of conflict resolution in school settings and defines conflict resolution as: (1) a constructive approach to interpersonal and intergroup conflicts that helps people with opposing positions work together to arrive at mutually acceptable compromise solutions; and (2) as the body of knowledge and practice…

After a brief introduction offering three reasons people and institutions hesitate to commit themselves to a continuing process of "self-study-in-action," four types of administrative leadership activities are distinguished, those that: (1) respond to external emergencies/opportunities, (2) accomplish role-defined tasks, (3) define and…

The purpose of this paper is to highlight some of the most significant trends likely to affect agricultural resource conservation activities, to discuss their significance to policy development and program management and implementation, and to make policy and program recommendations. In November 1986, 25 representatives from academia, farming…

This study investigated instructional leadership functions and school policy factors that affected implementation of instructional strategies presented in a research-based staff development program for secondary school mathematics teachers in school districts in the Chicago suburbs. The instructional leadership functions included the amount and…

This report, part of a long-range plan by San Diego Unified School District, California, investigates the extent to which the multitrack year-round program should be expanded to meet facility and curriculum needs. The report is divided into seven sections. Section 1, an issues statement, is followed by a background section and a section describing…

In contrast to the problems and policies of school boards of the 1950's and 1960's, when school enrollments increased at an unprecedented rate, the problems of school boards in the 1970's became those of retrenchment. Responding to the issues of declining enrollments and fiscal restraints, the Ontario Ministry of Education in 1981 required every…

Beginning with a capsule history of United States education reform efforts and an examination of the American "myth" of the apolitical nature of education, this paper explores the political bases of education policy. Reviewing the literature on educational politics with a particular concern for recent curriculum reform efforts at the state level,…

This survey project of 129 randomly selected school systems in Ontario, Canada, investigates: (1) dominant patterns among secondary principals' practices and their effectiveness in the improvement of school processes and outcomes; (2) differences in practices between elementary and secondary school principals; (3) factors determining secondary…

This report describes implementation of a districtwide planning model in the Mesa, Arizona, Public Schools. Figures illustrate planning processes throughout the report. Intended as an implementive framework, the planning system's purposes are to assist decision making about resource allocation, program direction, progress measurement, and district…