Building a culture of equity requires ensuring that leaders and school staff have a shared vision for what educational equity means, what it looks like, and how to get there. It also necessitates a willingness to hold people accountable to the vision and the work needed to make it a reality. This takes a clear road map for achieving the consistent…

The United Nations has set forth an ambitious vision for education systems around the globe: cultivating life-long learning from early childhood through an individual's civic and work life. Schools must support children and youth in basic learning--including crucial socio-emotional, literacy, and numeracy competencies--to contribute to sustainable…

As researchers, decision-makers, and practitioners focus on continuous improvement in education, local-level change is gaining importance. Yet, many local school improvement efforts fail to be fully implemented. Even those that are fully implemented often fail to sustain improvements because the schools are embedded in systems that face multiple…

We examine the distinction between teaching and teachers as it relates to instructional improvement. Drawing from work outside of education on improvement systems and from analyzing the Japanese system of lesson study, we contend that a focus on teaching can shape a coordinated system for improvement whereas a focus on teachers, common in the…

The author advocates assessment of local vocational agriculture programs to determine their viability and growth by examining the systematization, development, and assimilation aspects of the program. (EA)

Developing a clear idea of needs and objectives for any particular school system is the first step in planning for educational processes. (MB)

The impact of the accountability movement is examined in terms of the defensiveness which such programs have caused among educators and its emphasis on what schools cannot do rather than what they can do. (JMF)

In this discussion of the systems approach to educational change, the author discusses the programing, planning, budgeting, and evaluation aspects of a system for the management of educational resources. Four common misconceptions about PPBES are considered: (1) that PPBES can make decisions, (2) that costs can be completely quantitifed, (3) that…

This is one of eight short monographs intended to aid practicing educators in planning and conducting accountability programs in schools. This booklet discusses the concept of educational accountability and examines the major facets of educational accountability programs. Short sections focus in turn on the nature of educational accountability,…

In order to improve the chances for a working accountability system there will need to be a change in many of the traditional organizational patterns of educational establishments. (Author)

Competence-based education is defined and described as a system, and reference is made to its application to undergraduate education in public administration. Competence-based education emphasizes an integration of theory and practice in learning and curriculum and the organization of educational goals into explicit outcomes. The attainment of…

Examines the educational planning process. Discusses what planning is, how methodological planning can work in education, misunderstandings about planning, and difficulties in applying the planning methodology. (DN)

Educational accountability can be defined as the assigning of responsibility for educational outcomes. It has two essential dimensions--access to information about performance and the ability to change those factors thought to be responsible for unsatisfactory performance. While there are necessarily many parties held accountable in the schooling…

Papers presented at the Third Annual International Institute on the Community College are provided. In these papers, many facets of accountability are discussed: goal-setting, assumptions about learning, instructional modes, educational management practices, student development, instructional resources, and the systems approach. In addition, panel…