On July 24 and 25, 2012, members of the Task Force on Admissions in the 21st Century gathered in Reston, Virginia, to discuss the progress made by the implementation team in addressing action items from the Task Force's Preserving the Dream of America 2008 report; the current environment for admission; and actions to be taken to further the task…

Patterns in responses of colleges to fiscal stress were assessed. Attention was directed to the responses over a 10-year period, of 23 four-year colleges and universities that were observed in "A Report on the Financial Conditions Project" (1981) by the American Council on Education (ACE) and the National Association of College and University…

In 1969, the Joint Commission on the Mental Health of Children made several recommendations based on the conclusions in their report entitled "Crisis in Child Mental Health: Challenge for the 1970's." These recommendations included formation of a child advocacy system at every level of society; the development of supportive, preventive,…

This report presents the results of a qualitative research study at three small independent colleges/universities on how literature-based strategic planning models compare with actual practices. Four critical aspects of strategic planning were identified: first, dealing with the future; second, understanding the organization's external…

The role of teachers serving as policy board members of the Metrolina Educational Consortium (MEC) in North Carolina is discussed. The MEC is concerned with teacher education programs and is composed of classroom teachers, college representatives, local education agency staff, and state education department staff. The board members are mandated to…

In an effort to integrate existing data into decision-making processes, the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) began development of a comprehensive set of databases to be used in planning and administration. University strategic planning had begun in 1975 and continued with new impetus and revisions in 1984 and…

The paper questions whether educational and cultural activities sponsored by the United States government should be aimed at foreign policy objectives or should be treated as ends in themselves. Arguments are presented by political leaders, educators, and government officials in favor of and against cultural exchange as a form of foreign policy…

The technical, social, and procedural phenomena that facilitate the effective utilization of analytic models in decision-making are examined. Attention is focused on the theoretical issues associated with: (1) selection and fit of the model to the needs of the decision setting; (2) human factors such as cognitive style and the political climate…

This paper presents selected findings from a three-year research investigation of general and special education reform initiatives implemented in five local school districts across the United States (including a large urban, predominately minority system; two suburban districts; a small independent city district; a large county-wide system; two…

The equal employment opportunity policies of the Reagan administration may be summarized in the following manner: while the administration will not retreat from the historic commitment to enforce federal civil rights laws, it will no longer insist upon, or in any way support, the use of quotas or any numerical or statistical formula designed to…

The impact of research and development (R&D) on decision making and managers in vocational education and training (VET) was examined through a review of recent Australian studies in VET and health care. The framework adopted to analyze the relationships between R&D and decision making distinguished between the decision-making domain, the…

A model is proposed for developing and implementing a community-based lifelong learning resources system. The model, which is based on systems theory, features the following sequence of activities: identifying all the learning resources in a community, incorporating information about these resources into a database, establishing a mechanism for…