Outlines an approach for preparing and using futures scenarios that has been successful in the formulation of long-range plans and policies. How to construct a scenario and how to draw implications from the scenarios are discussed. (AM)

Effective school counselors must meet the challenges of predicting and planning for alternative futures. A futures perspective rests on a framework composed of five elements: guiding images, alternative choices, holistic thinking, extended time frame, and purposeful action. (MD)

This guide is intended to introduce educators to the kinds of instructional changes necessary to provide students with adequate preparation for the changing world of the future. The guide is made up of three units divided into eight independent modules that can be used in individual study, workshops, university courses, and so on. These modules…

The Talents Unlimited (TU) is designed to help teachers recognize and nurture the multiple talents of children. Research based on the work of Calvin Taylor has identified high level talents in which all people excel to varying extents. Taylor has suggested a grouping of talents based on the needs of the world-of-work, specifying the academic…

Planning to meet the needs of the future is a critical concern of an Arizona school district. The Mesa Action Planning System (MAPS) provides a framework for community involvement with a 200-member community-based planning committee, selected from constituent groups, and a 12-member steering committee. The planning committee will receive a summary…

The 1980s will be a period of restructuring for Australian education. Four factors will be central to this process: school-based decision-making, new administrative structures, regionalization, and declining and shifting enrollments. (Author/JW)

This manual describes and illustrates ED QUEST (Quick Environmental Scanning Technique), an educational planning model designed to identify emerging issues and events which portend threats and opportunities to colleges and universities, to analyze the probable impact of these variables on the organization, and to facilitate the development of…

Discusses importance of academic planning and describes a model-based decision support system for academic units in a university hierarchy. This system integrates macro-level decisions by examining individual departments' budgets to determine future plans. Quantitative techniques for forecasting change are reviewed, including use of spreadsheet…

Management aids required in strategic planning are divided into three categories: (1) assessing the environment, (2) providing a process for reaching decisions, and (3) presenting criteria to evaluate strategic decisions. A model for scanning the environment has four dimensions that concern economic, social, knowledge-technology, and public policy…

Summarizes the steps and strategies taken to produce a comprehensive multiyear budget that functions as a financial forecast. Discusses the key concepts and components of an effective plan as well as the presentation and implementation of the plan. (seven figures) (MLF)

Using the Oklahoma State University (OSU) computerized community simulation model, extension professionals can provide local decision makers with information derived from an impact model that is dynamic, community specific, and easy to adapt to different communities. The four main sections of the OSU model are an economic account, a capital…

Various techniques used by state agencies, secondary schools, community colleges, and large universities to forecast enrollments are described and guidelines for constructing forecasting procedures are outlined. The forecasting techniques are divided into three categories: (1) quantitative techniques based on historical data that attempt curve…