Instead of shielding the public from the effects of budget cuts by making small across-the-board cuts on many programs, school administrators should slash whole programs. This will maintain the system's overall educational effectiveness while making clear the consequences of the public's political actions. (Author/RW)

Adapting the principles outlined in "In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best Run Companies" (Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr.) to the operations of continuing education departments, this paper discusses eight rules for success and provides examples of their application. Rule One, "Bias for Action," emphasizes the…

Outlines a framework for determining the infrastructure cost of universal early care and education for young children and adequate compensation for caregivers. Discusses the nature of compensation and infrastructure, including governance and administration, compensation, professional development, and regulation. Suggests that costs could be…

Presents lessons learned from 12 years of administering a national accreditation system. Lessons for early childhood education practice include setting standards for quality, interpreting standards for practice, and administering good-quality programs. Professional development lessons relate to professional preparation and ethical responsibility.…

Systematic staff appraisal/performance management has been assumed to be an important part of quality management in higher-education institutions, but past approaches to it have had confused purposes and have made minimal contributions to enhancing institutional performance. For performance management to be relevant, it must focus on leadership of…

Discusses the implications of the requirement of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act (1984) that each state designate a state board of vocational education to serve as the sole state agency for program administration at both secondary and postsecondary institutions. Considers problems, possible solutions, national strategies, and new…

The practice of "franchising" higher education programs, or provision of educational programs through vendors, is examined as it occurs in the United Kingdom as a result of recent educational policy changes. A set of principles for assuring the quality of such programs is proposed. (MSE)

An attempt to identify methods of human resource management that emerge as schools and classrooms become more effective, this literature review emphasizes the importance of administrator "support functions," which include feedback to teachers, monitoring of teacher and student performance, incentives for teachers, and visible commitment…

The theme articles present strategies for achieving quality laboratory projects in vocational agriculture. They describe fundamentals of the construction of quality projects and stress the importance of quality instruction. (JOW)

In order to improve desegregation of the elementary schools, and the low achievement level of elementary schools with high concentrations of poor and minority students, the Massachusetts Board of Education placed a coordinated approach to improving urban schools first among its objectives. The following educational objectives were set for each…

Urges law schools to recognize and respond to concerns about educational quality, governance, productivity, cost, and undergraduate preparation. Suggests ways in which legal education can learn from the corporate experience, including defining core mission, examining internal bureaucracy, forming alliances with other institutions, involving…

Proceedings of an international conference on open education cover five themes: philosophy and concept, development trends in international perspective, dichotomy of equity and quality, graduates' employment, and the management challenge. Among the 41 conference papers and authors are: "The Idea of an Open University" (Preeda…

A history of the North Central Conference on Summer School (NCCSS) is presented. The NCCSS is an organization of colleges and universities in the north central area of the United States that provides undergraduate and/or graduate instruction during the summer months. The organization utilizes the structure and techniques of a conference to review…

Criteria for determining quality in continuing education at the college level are addressed. After considering conceptual and practical difficulties to assuring quality in continuing higher education (CHE), the background characteristics, capabilities, and performance of adult learners and traditional college students are compared. The following…

The head of a research university studio art program outlines the potential benefits and challenges associated with maintaining a first-rate program. Problems include high costs, a faculty merit review system, lack of faculty socialization to university norms or participation in campus affairs, lack of leadership incentives, a patronage mentality,…