School librarians throughout the country struggle to determine how to enact meaningful change that will strengthen their programs. They seek ways to increase collaboration with classroom teachers, to prepare their collections to meet the needs of the new Common Core State Standards, and to offer highly effective programs that prepare students to…

This report highlights the critical role family literacy and learning play in breaking down barriers between different learning contexts and engaging hard-to-reach adults and children in education. This report was developed as part of a family learning project initiated by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) in 2016. Based on the…

Early education leaders--inside and outside of government--are looking for new ways to improve quality, accountability, and efficiency across many different programs serving young children and their families, and they see investment in data systems as a pivotal part of that effort. However, it can be challenging to develop and implement effective…

This article reviews the historical context in which Canadian legislation and policy for children with special needs has evolved. The potential for the rights of students with special needs in light of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is outlined. The role of the Federal and Provincial governments in legislation and policy vis-à-vis…

A considerable amount of time, effort, and other resources go into the development and implementation of education projects. Quite obviously, the goal is to create effective projects that can serve as models of excellence. Whether the project is an hour-long endangered species talk, a family festival, a severe weather awareness workshop, marine…

This article addresses the question, "What factors contributed to successful completion of a needs and resource assessment in local communities, using the empowerment evaluation approach?" Case studies of three successful projects allow the exploration of organizational, community, state, and national factors that contributed to a strong needs and…

This document provides an overview of the needs assessment literature related to continuing professional education and guidelines for designing needs assessment procedures for a given project or professional group. Section 1 reviews the literature. It considers key concepts and definitions, reviews factors that may influence the development of a…

This manual describes the fact-finding conference and provides guidelines for determining when to use one, for planning one, and for conducting one. Defined first are various types of conferences, including the information-giving conference, the problem-solving or decision-making conference, the information-exchange conference, and the…

Describes steps taken by Lake Washington School District in Kirkland (Washington) in acquiring microcomputers, including (1) doing preliminary research, (2) forming a steering committee, (3) attending a conference on educational data systems, (4) defining 10 objectives for a computer awareness program, and (5) launching the program in three pilot…

Discusses needs assessment as a problem-focusing strategy and examines several definitions of need. Considers five purposes for assessing needs, and presents six guiding principles for the work of a needs assessment team. (RC)

Presents a systematic and disciplined approach to planning for the development and implementation of an information system which will collect, store, maintain, and report human resources data. Discusses guidelines, priorities, training requirements, security, auditing, interface with payroll, and personnel reporting. (CT)

Designed for local school and district vocational educators, this manual contains instructions and materials necessary to plan and implement a student longitudinal followup system. Part 1 provides background information and definitions used in the system. In part 2 are described the 11 major activities that must be undertaken by local program…

This chapter is limited to a discussion of formative evaluation procedures for the purpose of improving instructional programs. It provides some discussion about what formative evaluation is, what it is for, and some guidelines regarding how to go about the evaluation of instruction. The use of the term "instruction" is construed very broadly to…

For use in vocational education planning, guidelines are presented for conducting a needs assessment which would determine the numbers and kinds of jobs available now and in the future, the needs and aspirations of the local community, the interests and ambitions of the students, and the resources available to do the job. One section is devoted to…

The document offers guidelines for developing a management by information system for special education services, a system that organizes people, equipment, procedures, and communications to collect and present accurate data that administrators can use to make decisions and to provide information to state and federal governments. Following a…