Since 1988, the National Resource Center has conducted a national survey every three years to gather information about the nature and extent of first-year seminars on American college campuses. The findings from the 2006 survey administration have been reorganized to make it easier to find information of interest with major chapters focusing on…

This book shows how the quality management approach pioneered in Japan by Dr. W. Edwards Deming allows educational service centers to expand services and be more flexible by reducing waste and rework. Deming's method shows how to change from reactive management to a dynamic system of continuous improvement that restores worker pride, increases…

Over the years, thousands of school systems have joined forces to provide a variety of services for their pupils. Some are relatively simple cooperatives created for a single purpose such as provision of vocational-technical or special education. Others are rather sophisticated organizations offering everything from inservice education for…

Society is beginning to recognize that the need for education extends beyond the range established for formal schooling. Education is a process that begins at birth and never ends, and is always a matter of individual capacities, interests, and needs. The schoolhouse concept, which limits education to that which can take place in a traditional…

The close-knit, personal nature of small rural communities results in school and community operating as a single integrated social structure. Useful rural school improvement strategies must, therefore, address needs that are recognized by both the local school and the community and must operate in a style congruent with the local setting. Although…

Saltville, Virginia, is a former company town whose main employer, a soda ash plant, shut down on July 1, 1971. The closure of the chemical plant displaced 700 workers, and created a crisis that threatened not only the existence of the town, but of the entire region. In response, Virginia Highlands Community College (VHCC), in cooperation with the…

Major adult literacy and adult education programs in India are described in the brochure, which covers a wide sector of interests and target groups. Major programs described are: (1) mass literacy programs, discussing demography and various strategies; (2) Kisan Saksharta Yojana, discussing various strategies for farmers' functional literacy…

University-based institutes and centers were examined in terms of their origins, structure, functions, characteristics, control, and their role in the university. It is suggested that institutes and centers enable higher education institutions to accept new responsibilities and pursue them in new ways. A combination of societal, professional, and…