In December 2014, the Coalition for the Future of Detroit Schoolchildren (CFDS) was formed to make sweeping educational reform recommendations regarding the provision and governance of public education in Detroit. Spearheaded by community organizations, labor unions, and business interests representing an array of stakeholders in the Detroit area,…

Although the program-planning-budgeting system (PPBS) has been used in higher education to improve planning, budgeting, and decision making, examination had not been conducted to determine if the technique was consistent with planning, budgeting, and decision-making "theory." This paper reports the findings of such a theoretical…

According to Charles Lindblom, policy-makers are faced with so many constraints that, rather than using rational models of problem-solving, they are forced merely to "muddle through." However, muddling through is not only a necessity, it is often desirable. Experience designing and managing an administrators' development program…

The paper focuses on the role of decision making to develop social skills in adolescents with learning or behavior problems and describes a project to implement such a decision making model. The paper begins by tracing some of the crucial issues of adolescence and then describes the Adolescent Issues Project which has produced a curriculum…

Typical characteristics of program reviews, illustrations of to whom the reviews relate in a university setting, and conditions and expectations that may enhance the use of the results of program reviews are described in this report. It is argued that program reviews do not serve all levels of a university equally; the primary beneficiaries of the…

The purpose of the focus group design described in this paper was to identify the needs of students in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs for use by researchers, program designers, and teachers. The pilot focus group consisted of students from various programs who were preparing to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language. They were…

Program Level Planning, a model based upon decentralized decision making, is proposed as a method to move the planning process to the university's operational level. After describing the characteristics and steps of Program Level Planning, the problems in shifting the decision making to the local level are considered, along with the application of…

Because there appears to be a need for the facilitation of planning in elementary schools, the Center for the Study of Evaluation has established programs to provide for people in schools the knowledge and skills they need to do local program planning and evaluation. One of these programs is the self-instructional, self-contained Program Planning…

The primary focus of the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM) is the individual teacher and professor involved in explorinq, selecting, and implementing educational innovations. The conceptual basis of CBAM proposes developmental steps of growth in feelings and skills that are experienced by individuals as they adopt innovations. The CBAM also…

The innovators of a functional level testing program must make decisions in the context of situational factors. There are several decision points involving the important elements of a testing program. Establishing the need for functional level testing is the first decision to be made. A systematic examination of in-level test data will document…

This paper discusses educational innovation and is comprised of five sections: (1) a review of previous years of educational innovations in the U.S., (2) processes associated with innovation, including an analysis of two national case studies, (3) research findings about the implementation of innovations, (4) a major thesis about centralized…

This study considers the implementation of parent choice and parent information in the Alum Rock demonstration as a case study in organizational response to innovation. Analysis of the implementation process focuses on two dimensions: the division of the implementation process into three phases--initiation, implementation, and…

In the early 1990s, a restructuring of the health services system of Alberta (Canada) amalgamated public health units and hospital districts into 17 Regional Health Authorities. Many of the regions have pursued community grant initiatives in addition to their regular funding, and it seemed that there would be value in comparing the experiences of…

Language diversity should be viewed as an asset to schools rather than a liability. Educators should capitalize on the situation and adapt early by developing a bilingual education program. Three levels of decision-making are discussed, with alternatives and criteria described for each. (1) Program decision-making involves a range of choice from…

This qualitative case study explored the origins, evolutions, and challenges of 12 cross-disciplinary intellectual initiatives at 1 research university. Researchers conducted open-ended interviews with leaders of the 12 initiatives and used program literature to support the data gathered from the interviews. The study found that key factors such…