From 1998 to 2008, the Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD) offered its employees a variety of options for formation, a type of reflective practice. The district encompasses 10 locations, seven of them independently accredited colleges. Formation is based primarily on Parker Palmer's model for Circles of Trust as described in "A…

Purpose: Reformers, policymakers, and researchers have given considerable attention to organizational capacity in schools, especially in those schools that perpetuate or exacerbate achievement gaps among diverse student groups and reproduce social inequalities. There is an emerging consensus about key dimensions of school capacity and how they can…

Applies to adult education decision making Bolman and Deal's four frames for understanding organizations: structural, human resource, political, and symbolic. Suggests that a different frame for adult programs and services is needed to align with the frames of potential participants. (SK)

Author provided an assessment of his experience with organizational development at the Taft School, Watertown, Connecticut. (Author/RK)

Administrators and teachers who are formulating a career education program for their school or school district are confronted with a wide range of decisions to be made. By viewing career education as a "curriculum organizer," the authors present the range of questions that must be discussed before decisions and directions are determined. Fourteen…

This is one of three companion volumes that present the theoretical basis, instructional strategies, and participant materials for the Preparing Educational Training Consultants: Organizational Development (PETC-III) program, an instructional system for training school system organizational development (OD) consultants. This particular publication…

The Institute on Training for Change in Student Personnel Services was designed to meet the need for imaginative and innovative approaches to student personnel services in light of contemporary realities. Six papers presented at the Institute concern perspectives on the nature of man, strategies for change, student development, towards a positive…

The author's predictions regarding possibilities for the future of continuing education focus on (1) some philosophic notes on emerging directions, (2) curriculum or programing to respond to, and to provide leadership in the light of, such an environment, and (3) organizational approaches to the end-of-the-century continuing education…

One of a series of reports documenting efforts at educational restructuring nationwide, this paper focuses on the achievements and ideas of James Comer, founder and director of the School Development Program (SDP) of the Child Study Center at Yale University. The first part of the report presents remarks made by Dr. Comer on the history and…

Existing theories and research evidence on organizational change within colleges and universities are reviewed to provide some general guidelines for institutions seeking to refine their purposes, develop programs, and improve effectiveness and efficiency. Several propositions concerning the nature of higher education institutions, the politics of…

This paper surveys the recent literature on the implementation of educational innovations and reviews and synthesizes research findings and recommendations for improving educational practices. It focuses on the implementation processes, influences, and effects that are considered to be important variables in educational change, and explores…

This report presents the first stage results of an internal school board intervention in two inner city secondary schools in Montreal, Quebec. The Organizational Development (OD) technology of survey feedback was applied as an intervention technique to these schools. A response mode of planned change and development was attempted. The project…

Program evaluators and program managers should examine appropriate dimensions of innovations when deciding to support, accept, or reject an educational innovation. Survey questionnaires were used with 76 teachers and administrators and 65 state supervisors and local project directors of exemplary programs to obtain a list of 38 "essential"…

This paper examines the issues that emerged in the first six months of a collaborative program initiated by the Massachusetts State Department of Education for simultaneously developing or improving middle school teacher preparation programs and restructuring middle schools. The literature on interorganizational collaboration provides a framework…

The following 26 papers, with abstracts and references, are included in these proceedings: "Panel: Continuing Professional Education in Cooperative Extension" (Robert L. Bruce, G. L. Carter, Jr., Ronald Jimmerson, Joan S. Thomson); "New Farm Families: Implications for Extension Educators" (Jane W. McGonigal, Robert L. Bruce);…