Since the break up of the USSR, its former republics have seen the emergence and rapid expansion of an examinations industry that was, to all intents and purposes, unknown in Soviet times. New national assessment agencies have been established and been charged with, amongst other things, developing high-stakes exams to replace the diverse and…

The one-university idea--that the University of California is a single institution whose campuses are united in the pursuit of a common mission and common standards of quality--has been a guiding organizational principle since UC President Robert Gordon Sproul first articulated it in the 1930s. This paper examines the origins of the one-university…

With seemingly fewer highly functional families, society is demanding schools that accomplish the impossible--higher standards and higher success rates. The current educational system cannot accomplish the impossible. The solution for the desired higher standards and higher success rates is not more programs or more technology. It is systems…

Describes the systems approach (the Information-Based School Development Project) used by a large education system in Australia for school review and development, involving a research and a service component to help schools identify, obtain, and organize information they need for their own decision-making. Relates two case studies. (SR)

Examines the issue of community involvement in reformulating educational systems. Historical perspectives on community involvement in schools are reviewed; the roles of community members in educational settings and in educational systems design settings are discussed; and experiences from fieldwork observing community participation are related.…

Focuses on two mental activities--reflection and metaphor--that can be used with communication to facilitate changes in an educational system. Discusses two contexts in which they are being used: (1) in individual thinking and writing; and (2) as part of a facilitated group activity. (AEF)

Compares educational technology and information systems (IS) and relates the histories of their adoption. Explains IS adoption paradigms, models and frameworks, and suggests similarities and differences between IS adoption/implementation and educational change; and discusses educational change and what can be learned from IS adoption models.…

Paper read at the American Educational Research Association Convention, Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 2-6, 1970. Describes an approach to planned organizational change in school systems built on the effective features of both the open-systems approach to understanding organizations, and the T-Group-Consultant school of small group methods. (JM)

Demonstrates how the Gestalt Approach can be useful in facilitating systems design for educational change. This approach focuses on awareness of the process that the group is involved with and helps to create an environment where individual and group concerns can be integrated and harmonized. Discusses the "Cycle of Experience" and…

This book provides information on the concept and practice of community colleges in both the United States and India. It is intended to serve as a guideline for the development in India of institutions and programs modeled after American community colleges. The foreword discusses the findings of a survey of colleges in India on…

Change efforts should be guided with a systemic understanding of the context in which they are undertaken. Depending on the circumstance, or as the implementation effort progresses, it may be most effective to focus interventions on a particular component of the framework at a time. This ERIC digest presents a sequence for approaching the major…

Describes a case study that combined ethnographic and interview methods to gain an understanding of the types of decisions and factors influencing those decisions within the design inquiry phase of a high school's system-transformation effort. Factors discussed include the facilitator's role, information needs, user-based design teams, and…

Using the Kite (a framework for school development) as a diagnostic tool can help schools identify barriers to reform efforts by constructing an authentic picture of the school which can be measured against the qualities and practices of a learner centered environment. The paper describes organizational theories supporting the model. (SM)

The School Development Program (SDP) Model is a potentially useful alternative means of addressing the ills that plague public schools. Containing elements of the adjustment and social action models, it is an example of the ecological approach to prevention, which views behavior as a function of person and environment. After a background outline…

A study of the federal role in the advancement of lifelong learning focused on the probable impact of a federally supported lifelong learning system and the existing educational system on one another. The conditions and parameters of the following claim were examined: any lifelong learning enterprise initially funded by the federal government…