A growing number of public colleges and universities in the United States have hired management consulting firms to help develop strategies aimed at increasing institutional effectiveness and efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to explore the frames and strategies of consultants in US public higher education reform efforts. Drawing upon a…

Children enter school with vastly different skill levels and formal schooling often magnifies these disparities over time. Widening achievement gaps between high- and low-income children have grown substantially in the last 50 years. Further, the opportunity gap facing most low-income students contributes to a host of academic and social…

The challenge of producing the systemic changes that are needed to boost educational attainment and economic competitiveness across the country falls heavily on entities that coordinate public postsecondary institutions. Coordination of postsecondary education, whether of a single system of institutions or across an entire state, requires…

This manual contains forms and instructions for North Carolina's annual review of its migrant education program established under the federal Education Consolidation and Improvement Act. State officials developed this self-review process to simplify compliance monitoring of the state program. The self-review is conducted by local education…

Descriptions are offered of numerous approaches used in five Southern states to enable local universities to provide selected backup services to state government. The report is based on informal case studies in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The descriptions of the programs reveal that a variety of organizational…

This document, the thirteenth annual report of the North Carolina Community College System, details the critical success factors of students in the state's community colleges. The report is the result of a process undertaken to streamline and simplify accountability reporting by the Community College System. The purpose of the report is two-fold.…

This report looks at and identifies emerging trends in the roles that teacher unions play in educational reform and improving the quality of teaching. A description of the efforts of six teacher unions to improve teacher quality within the context of the current systemic reform movement shows a range and depth of union initiatives beyond what is…

This research supports the proposition that a greater number of public employees results in a higher perception of quality in public servlces and that fewer administrative units per capita also result in a higher perception of quality in public services. (Author/IRT)

Describes one school district manager's tactics for successfully controlling district costs and increasing capital improvements while only marginally increasing the facilities maintenance budget. Highlights guidelines for controlling personnel requirements and cost-reduction methods. Discusses specific cost-control measures involving telephone…

This report describes and assesses a year-long effort by the Institute for Responsive Education (IRE) to support and evaluate local school advisory councils in five communities around the nation (San Diego, a suburban community in southern California, Fairfield and Calhoun Counties in South Carolina, and Yonkers, New York). An overview of the…

In response to legislative mandate, the North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges developed a list of Critical Success Factors (CSF) to help define statewide measures of accountability for all community colleges. Developed by staff members of the State Board with input from the state's community college presidents, the CSFs emphasize…

The documents enclosed in this report provide a comprehensive and systematic review of the progress made in developing a network organization capable of supporting nanoscience education for the public on a national scale. There is a logic to the studies that were done and to the reports that are included in this notebook. The following are the…