Just as in 1982, when the myth of waiting for Santa Claus was first addressed in "Gifted Child Quarterly," many districts all over the country are still waiting for Santa Claus to arrive with a sleigh full of presents. Unfortunately, Santa and his presents in the form of mandates to identify and serve, funding, teachers licensed in…

Suggestions to strengthen the program planning process and to match communication strategies with program objectives include selecting the right people, limiting group size, naming a facilitator, agreeing on a technique, respecting opinions, identifying audiences, reviewing market research, listening to clients, and selecting the right media. (JOW)

If planners want to be ethically responsible for the consequences of their work, all who are affected by the program should be at the planning table. The reality of planning is that those with the most power will construct programs according to their interests. Planners must take responsibility to foster substantive involvement. (JOW)

Discusses an approach to planning that is necessary if management development is to be successful. (JOW)

Concept mapping for program planning involves group brainstorming of needs, individual rating of the results, and individual grouping of needs into themes. Computer sorting of the information results in a pictorial map and statistical ratings of clustered topics. (SK)

Looks at a study of 36 extension officers that found that 89% of the agents had specific plans, but only 8% of the programs were implemented as specified. Suggests reasons for the discrepancy and suggests a flexible planning model for more effective programming. (JOW)

In this article, the author offers his critique on Holburn and Cea's notion on "excessive positivism" that person-centered planners are overconcerned with scientific verification and logical proof. The author believes that Holburn and Cea's notion blurs the important messages they have for person-centered planners by leading toward a debate about…

The traditional view that an activity's comparative impact on collective welfare ought to guide resource allocation is refuted. A paradigm of a multisystem society with the non-fungibility of investment resources an essential issue in project appraisal is presented. (SLD)

Five indicators of failure suggest mistakes in program design or delivery: aborted planning, insufficient enrollment, negative reactions, unattained objectives, and incomplete transfer of learning. Learning from these mistakes requires deliberate reflection and systematic analysis. (SK)

Leisure is a multi-faceted concept, the definition of which varies according to the presuppositions of the individual. It may be conceived of as a term pertaining to a single individual or a whole society. Leisure is commonly defined in terms of time, activities, or state of mind. The way in which leisure is viewed significantly affects the…

The authors suggest that the Rules and Regulations of P.L. 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act) for the development and implementation of child identification systems present severe policy problems for state planners. (Author/CL)

The Comprehensive Plan for the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) in New York State contains both long-range goals and short-term actions for the next 20 years with a series of specific actions proposed for the current 3-year (1985-87) period. The first chapter provides program background with sections on OVR'S mission, recent trends in…

The first of five papers written by the Ohio Developmental Disabilities Planning Council's Deinstitutionalization Task Force Project, this document focuses on the role of institutional services. Following a brief summary of planning principles (least restrictive alternative, right to services, normalization, equal justice, respect for human…

One of the many problems of developing nations is the scarcity of the information required for development planning, its concomitant abundance in more developed nations, and the lack of a truly viable infrastructure to achieve its economic transfer. Political and administrative structures must be created that are responsive to the new scales of…

The successful application of communication or educational technology in developing nations is dependent upon a favorable mix of planning factors and the more predominant contextual factors of local settings. Planning strategies should be adopted to search for those contexts that promise the best results from a rationally planned application of…