Crises have a way of shaking up the status quo and creating space for new thinking. When shocked out of their familiarity, people start to ask questions as to why things are the way that they are and brainstorm ways to make them better. Enter entrepreneurs. They are the people who take those ideas that are lying around and attempt to create…

Using the case study of HSE University (Russian Federation), this article will focus on how professional development programmes can be used by universities to ensure transformations and achieve their goals. It will focus on the administrative (professional services) staff and how universities can develop and leverage their potential in order to…

The educational landscape around standards, assessment, professional development, and funding is changing at a rapid pace. This article asks how can education institutions--and educators--respond with a balance of urgency and coherence? How can education institutions temper the need for risk-taking and innovation with the responsibility to deliver…

In December 2014, the Coalition for the Future of Detroit Schoolchildren (CFDS) was formed to make sweeping educational reform recommendations regarding the provision and governance of public education in Detroit. Spearheaded by community organizations, labor unions, and business interests representing an array of stakeholders in the Detroit area,…

This paper suggests to those who have a genuine desire to effect change in higher education some ways of thinking and acting that they may find useful and urges further dialogue about strategy and approach to needed innovation generally. (Author)

If you have considered the pro's and con's of an extended secondary school year, this article may pique your interest anew. Its question and answer format gets to the heart of the issues involved. (Editor)

A key assignment for a person with a specialty in local educational improvement is that of providing a school district with leadership in choosing a program that will meet needs for improvement in some area of concern. This unit presents a problem-solving model as one way of identifying problems and their causes, surveying a range of potential…

Establishes some basic planning strategies for creating and maintaining an effective parent program. A 60-item School/Partnership Inventory was administered in two school districts, and problems were identified in 23 areas covered by this instrument. Differences in parents' perceptions of the school-home linkages in the sample studies were based…

The organization and procedures of universities make it tempting to try to avoid contemporary challenges to graduate education. Much of the malaise in current graduate education results from a focus on the decline in resources, in the availability of conventional careers for graduates, and in the availability of talented students. (Author/MLW)

The data are clear: Too many students are not doing well in school. Too many are experiencing interfering barriers, most of which are not internal dysfunctions but are associated with neighborhood, family, school, and peer factors. If the situation is to change, schools must play a greater role in providing supports for students experiencing…

This document is the first of a series that will address five stages of the school reform process. It focuses on the first stage of the change process, managing key stakeholders and external groups and engaging them in the planning and development of the reform or innovation. A stakeholder is any group or individual who can affect or is affected…

This report covers the first year of a five-year study of 11 school districts that are involved in school improvement activities. The schools are attempting to create new programs that will increase the effectiveness of linking agents working with the schools in three curriculum areas: basic skills, career preparation, and citizen education.…

Three sets of relationships between evaluation and staff development are identified: (1) evaluation for staff development in which data from evaluations suggest the program content; (2) evaluation of staff development in which evaluative activities become opportunities for problem solving; and (3) evaluation of staff development in which…

Computer literacy is defined as the ability to utilize capabilities of computers intelligently. Specific skills and characteristics necessary for computer literate pupils are listed. The importance of computer literacy, a curriculum, and evaluation are discussed. (MP)

Moving problem-centered, experiential programs into the mainstream of graduate and professional education will require more formal mechanisms for leadership. Students of graduate education programs that infuse the disciplinary study of academe with the applied perspective of professional practice gain broader contact with the problems of the…