Continuous improvement is a holistic and research-based approach to education grounded in the belief that every system is designed to achieve the results it gets; therefore, change must be systemwide, not piecemeal. California is a national leader in the continuous improvement movement that is spreading throughout local school districts as well as…

California's school accountability and support system, the Statewide System of Support (System of Support), was designed to transform California's approach to school improvement. Rather than focusing on punitive consequences for underperformance, the System of Support is designed to provide education leaders and educators with needed support to…

The 2004 California Mental Health Services Act requires large-scale system change in the public mental health system through a shift to recovery-oriented services for diverse populations. This article describes an innovative strategy for workforce recruitment and retention to create and sustain these systemic changes. The California Social Work…

This chapter describes the system office for community college institutional research in California. As the system IR office for the largest community college system in the nation, it is often looked to as a leader for other states and community college IR systems. The author notes the office's administrative environment, its staffing and…

Reviewed and analyzed is The California Tomorrow Plan,'' an imaginative and comprehensive strategy for turning society's assault on the environment into a coherent effort for solving social and environmental problems. If offers a rational method and system for identifying, analyzing, and coping with major disruptions in our society and…

An information storage and retrieval system has been developed for reporting job placement and followup data of persons trained in industrial education programs in California public schools. The system is built around five forms: (1) school registration, (2) verification of enrollment, (3) verification of address, (4) in-class follow-through, and…

THIS PAPER INVESTIGATES VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR SOLVING EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS--(1) THE SYSTEMS CONCEPT, (2) THE RELIABILITY OF THE ASSUMPTIONS ON WHICH THE SYSTEMS APPROACH IS BASED, (3) THE LIMITATIONS INHERENT IN THE SYSTEMS APPROACH, (4) THE HUMAN ELEMENT AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SYSTEMS APPROACH, (5) THE WAYS THE…

This review examined the evaluation components from 10 awarded state improvement grants designed to improve systems providing services for students with disabilities. The review examined the following aspects of the evaluation components: purposes, conceptual framework for the evaluation and systems reform, evaluation design and approaches,…

This monograph describes and analyzes recent efforts to develop measurable units for human services in the social services and mental health services areas. The issues surrounding the "unit of service" are examined along with the problems encountered by the system designer or information user in past projects, and some of today's more…

This review of effective practices in state-wide systems change was conducted as part of the PEERS (Providing Education for Everyone in Regular Schools) Project, a 5-year collaborative systems change project in California to facilitate the integration of students with severe disabilities previously at special centers into services at regular…

THIS PAPER DISCUSSES THE OBJECTIVES AND NECESSARY DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM OF OPERATION PEP. THERE ARE NINE ELEMENTS WHICH THE INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM OF OPERATION PEP MUST CONSIDER--(1) PRIMACY OF IMPROVED PARTICIPANT PERFORMANCE, (2) CRITICALNESS OF TIME, (3) DETERMINATION OF PRIORITIES AMONG RELEVANT EDUCATIONAL…

COPES (Community College Occupational Programs Evaluation System), established in 1971 as a cooperative undertaking of community colleges, is today the recognized system for evaluation of occupational education in California community colleges. In its fifth year of operation (1975-76) an assessment study focused on the basic system. Key objectives…

This final report describes the accomplishments and activities of a 5-year federally funded California systems change project supporting the development and replication of inclusive schools as part of the state's movement to provide the least restrictive educational environment for all students with severe disabilities. The project was a…

This report contains findings of a followup study of the impact of the District Review of Vocational Education (DROVE) on 19 secondary school districts and four regional occupational programs and centers (ROP/Cs) in California reviewed during 1974-75. (The followup study of the impact of DROVE is the third phase of DROVE, a three-phased,…

This module, which may be used as the basis for a workshop or as a special topic unit in an adult basic education or English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) course, focuses on support systems for injured workers. The following items are included: module overview; list of basic, thinking, interpersonal, information utilization, and other skills…