As a university president who was also the institution's vice president for information technology and CIO for ten years, the author is often asked: "What do you now think about technology? From your point of view as a president, what are the major issues in information technology today? What has changed in your thinking?" So in his…

This article examines the trend toward centralization in American education policy over the last century through a variety of lenses. The overall picture that emerges is one of a continuous tug-of-war, with national and local policymakers stumbling together toward incrementally more standardized and centralized policies. There is a center of power…

The purpose of this study was to assess the equity and adequacy of the NYC schools through analysis of the distribution of key resources before and after its 32 decentralized community school districts were recentralized into ten administrative regions in 2003. The study used a framework for assessing adequacy based on economic, sociological, and…

Active participation of parents in every step of their children with special needs' education is crucial, and it begins with the educational assessment of the children. The parents experience with the professionals who are responsible of assessing children's abilities might be crucial for the services that will be provided for the children with…

The purpose of this dissertation was to evaluate the effectiveness of an Early Childhood Development Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree program at one community college as part of an ongoing action research project. Prior to this dissertation study, external and internal barriers prevented the associate degree program stakeholders from…

In ten years, Alaska Pacific University has moved from a totally decentralized administration of its adult online program to a very centralized structure. Drastic changes in funding sources and student needs have compelled the university to take new approaches. As the learning landscape continues to shift for adults, online learners, and Alaska…

The Chinese Government has conducted a series of top-down reforms of teacher education over the past several decades. The reforms have established a relatively stable teacher education system, regulated teacher education programmes and curricula, and provided opportunities for in-service teachers to be trained and to upgrade their educational…

Following his previous article in this journal on the centralisation of power in English education post the 1988 Education Reform Act ("The Era of Centralisation", "FORUM", 50[2], pp. 255-261), the author considers the apparent turn to school autonomy central to the Conservative Educational Revolution. He argues that the power…

Southern African Development Community (SADC) nations in principle endorse lifelong learning (LLL) as a useful framework for sustainable development. However, in spite of the rhetoric, only a few member states such as South Africa, Botswana and Namibia have officially endorsed LLL in their educational policies. The sub-region is plagued by social…

This article will particularly focus on Norway and the consequences for academic work. Frequently in studies of academic work, focus has been on academics' individual autonomy and to what extent the latter is challenged (Altbach in "Ann Am Acad Pol Soc Sci" 448:1-14, 1980; Shattock in "High Educ" 41:27-47, 2001). One of the…

Continuing education units enable institutions of higher education to extend university resources to the larger community for the purposes of addressing key issues in the community, region, and state. Continuing education units have been engaged in strategic planning exercises since the I980's and have developed organizational models and methods…

Management style can be defined as a special behavior of directors in the work process that affects the performance in an organization, in this case-school. Management style has two related meanings: first is behavior of directors to employees, second is directors' approach in school regarding management, participation of employees in decision…

Interactive relationships in online learning communities can influence the process and quality of knowledge building. The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the relationships between network structures and social knowledge building in an asynchronous writing environment through discussion forums in a learning management system. The…

Over the last 20 years, states and provinces have become increasingly involved in the financing and administration of elementary and secondary education. Local school boards, however, still retain control over key aspects of the provision of education. Historically, these boards were organized at the community level so as to meet the wants of the…

This is a study of financial disparities in primary and secondary education in OECD countries that have a relatively large population and a school finance system with decentralized features. These countries include the United States, Britain, Australia, Spain, Canada, and Japan. There are two major research questions: What are the trends in…