A requirement for quality assurance is becoming more prevalent in higher education today as institutions are being asked to demonstrate that they are providing robust, meaningful learning experiences for students. Many institutions are adopting curriculum review frameworks as part of their overall quality assurance strategy. Three leaders at…

The issue of freedom of speech on college and university campuses has captured the interest of the nation and attracted considerable media attention. As board members and institutional leaders address the difficult questions that arise in relation to this controversial issue, they need to balance the competing tensions between individual freedom…

Student learning measures have rapidly become common in teacher evaluation systems across the United States. Over half of the country's states have required, recommended, or identified "student learning objectives" (SLOs) as a measure of student growth for use in educator evaluation. Although SLO-type measures vary significantly in terms…

Accountability and dissemination of its work are important elements of Cedefop's policy to provide assurance to stakeholders for resources used and results achieved. For a centre of expertise and policy advice like Cedefop, the impact of which is hard to gauge for the common European citizen, legitimacy of public expenditure is important, and is…

The Race to the Top Assessment program was authorized as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). In September 2010, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) awarded competitive, four-year grants to two consortia of states, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and the Smarter…

This article explores the relationship between users' interpretations of a new technology and failure of organizational change. I suggest that people form interpretations of a new technology not only based on their conversations with others, but also through their use of technology's material features directly. Through qualitative and quantitative…

If education in Indiana is to dramatically improve, the systems and policies that collectively shape the learning experiences for students must be re-imagined. In the spring of 2011, the Indiana legislature passed IC 20-28-11.5, a new law relating to the evaluation of all certified teaching staff and administrators. Prior to this legislation,…

Guided by theories of institutions, organizations, and sense-making, this manuscript examines how public, charter, and Catholic school staff in a large urban area organize for instruction and respond to educational change. To build theory about institutional processes of "organizing" from participants' perspectives, data included a…

This article analyses the work of the Bologna Follow Up Group as the main institution of the Bologna Process and the perceptions of the policy actors involved concerning the character of the process in terms of its functioning in contrast to similar multi-level multi-actor European processes, its modes of communication and consensus seeking, as…

Reviews relevant literature in the areas of communication and innovation and explores how efforts toward innovative practices are directly related to globalism and business strategy. Focuses on issues associated with national culture, corporate culture, and professional culture that are relevant to strategies for researching business communication…

Any plan to create a communications/governance structure to empower stakeholders must address several questions: rationale, potential advantages and disadvantages, problems to be considered, format, committee structure and responsibilities, and evaluation techniques. Includes 10 references. (MLH)

Examines the implementation of quality programs in four organizations; the communication used to introduce the programs and to encourage employees to participate; and employees' perceptions of the programs, implementation activities, and change agents. Presents four key themes that emerged: creating and communicating vision; sensemaking and…

This paper describes the processes and outcomes experienced by the Marshalltown Community School District (Iowa) as it implemented a shared decision-making, school-improvement program. A district Shared Decision Making (SDM) Team and School Improvement Program (SIP) teams were trained to facilitate greater staff participation in the…

Learning from evaluation is discussed with reference to the experiences of the Norwegian aid administration. The study demonstrates that evaluation builds learning through involvement and through communication. An organization can maximize its learning by making the two modes supplement each other. (SLD)

Syracuse University (New York) has found that the focused, collaborative approach to institutional administration embodied in Total Quality Management is beneficial. It requires allocation of adequate time and resources, observation of others, communication, addressing high-need areas first, and willingness to adapt, but it may bring resistance…