The aim of this case study was to evaluate whether there had been educational changes and if so, in which phases of implementation and institutionalization in three African higher education institutions. The changes were evaluated from the point-of-view of trainees in the field of e-learning and library services during the project conducted in…

Behavioral studies have shown that youths in various settings can function effectively as behavior change agents. The study used five 15- to 18- year-old male youths in a closed institutional setting as behavior change agents for five male youth counselors. Staff increased their frequency of positive verbal comments. (Author)

The results relating to staff development, contained in a Rand Corporation survey on change agents, are summarized in this paper. The researchers discovered that successful staff development program implementation was characterized by three major components: local materials development, online planning, and concrete, ongoing training. Their…

The paper outlines a staff development strategy (model) designed to facilitate the development of sound instructional materials while keeping in harmony with the concerns of the individual staff members. The goals and role of innovation, stages of concern among staff, and strategies in staff development are discussed. (EAO)

Besides spotlighting education and influencing agencies' intervention in the educational processes, the recent reform movement has focused attention on all educational actors and called for increased accountability for teachers and administrative staff, including principals. While researchers disagree on the degree of instructional leadership…

This report presents the methodology and some of the results from part of an on-going Rand Corporation study of change agent programs sponsored by the U.S. Office of Education. It concentrates on staff development as a vehicle for change in schools. After a brief introduction, the methodology of the study is presented. The third section examines…

A report is given of a comprehensive review of research on inservice education. The review process began with 6,000 abstracts and references. About 150 of the documents reported some quantitative findings. Fifty-nine studies met topic criteria and also had statistics which could be synthesized. These studies were sorted into four categories of…

Presented are the proceedings of a workshop on preparing personnel to effectively intervene in the development and education of Mexican-American hearing-impaired children (0- to 4-years-old). Participants (who were professionals in such disciplines as psychology, medicine, and education) investigated four main topics (examples of conclusions are…

Attempts to answer the question "What does research say about getting innovations into schools?" are based on the experiences of a nonprofit organization that has been engaged in staff development efforts to bring about change in schools. The paper presents a general description of the organization's operation; its relationship to other change…

This is the first of four appendixes to Volume III of the Rand report "Federal Programs Supporting Educational Change." This appendix is a description of Title III of the Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as it operates at the federal and state levels, together with a description and analysis of factors that contribute to the…

The District Facilitator Project (DFP) assists local schools by linking them with exemplary projects that have been proven successful in other school districts around the country. The DFP provides coordination and technical assistance, services that help to assure successful implementation in the new location. Evaluation of this project was…

One of four programs funded nationally to test the notion that increased efficiency in the use of student and teacher time would result in higher student achievement, the Cotopaxi/Westcliffe Project was unique in that the two Colorado districts involved were small, rural, and operated on a four-day school week. The 4-year intervention consisted of…

This study examined whether context and other variables differentiated between improving and stable Louisiana schools. Participating were principals of 124 improving and 124 stable schools, with a final response rate to a mail survey of 69 percent. The School Improvement Survey, developed for this study, assessed six areas: (1) demographic and…

In 1998, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) established the DoD Office of the Chancellor for Education and Professional Development. Although achieving its mission requires that the chancellor's office influence the education and professional development providers' behavior, its charter grants it very limited formal authority to exercise such…

This document contains two papers from a symposium on human resource development (HRD) in Europe moderated by Wim Nijhof at the 1996 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development. "HRD Roles in Germany" (Linda E. Odenthal, Wim J. Nijhof) reports on a German study based on a study of the job profiles of HRD practitioners in the…