This paper identifies two trends seen as shaping the future of dentistry: (1) the position of dental schools within the university structure; and (2) the regulation of schools through accreditation and licensure. Concluding comments address how dentistry can serve the public through greater access to care. (GLR)

A special process created for institutions to preserve and promote the qualitative nature of their existence is presented. This process can be used to strengthen their marketing capacity (development, alumni, and public relations, admissions, and enrollment management). The Institutional Distinctiveness Survey (IDS) is described as it was used…

This paper examines the role of formal and informal sources of information in a higher education governing board's decision to close its doors, merge with another institution, or continue to struggle for independent survival. Answers to the deciding questions were found in the shared experiences of governing board members as they confronted…

This paper uses data from a survey of K-12 unit schools to fashion a measure of small school sustainability and relate it to variables pertinent to the rural context. Drawing on definitions of sustainable development and sustainable agriculture, this study proposes sustainability as a concept appropriate to schooling in general, and to small rural…

A case study is presented which tests Hossler's 1984 assertion (that well conceptualized plans to manage enrollment can lead to a better institutional self-understanding and an enhanced institutional health and vitality) and critically examines one private, comprehensive university's effort to improve the quality and quantity of its environmental…

Strategic planning is discussed as a viable, effective method for coping with change to help an institution achieve its goals. A nine-step model of strategic planning is presented, and the results of a critique of a planning process at a major western research university are described. The nine steps are to: develop a planning culture, planning…

The momentum of the individual rights movement has placed such an emphasis on individual claims and needs that all the nation's institutions have become suspect. These include churches, the family, and schools--those structures that mediate between the individual and the impersonal megastructures of society. These institutions are part of the…

Educational institutions are expected to serve people by developing their knowledge, skills, and personality, including their values and attitudes. They are expected to influence the environment through the people they develop and through the models they set up in terms of the values and behaviors of the people who work in these institutions.…

In Latin America private universities are a recent phenomenon; Uruguay began its experiment with privatization only 15 years ago. This study explores several factors which have impeded formation of private universities by analyzing the "failures" of three institutions. The theoretical framework of the study is based on work by D.C. Levy…

In the 1997-98 school year, the town school boards of rural Rutland County, Vermont, established a regional school choice collaborative. Key program features were limits on the number of choice students from each school; no exchange of money between school boards; a lottery to determine admission at schools with excess applicants; parent/student…

This paper presents findings of a study that investigated educational change within two innovative schools experiencing financial crisis. Data were derived from interviews with 14 educators (principals and teachers) and from observations of school board meetings. The two schools were: (1) the Team Academy, a nongraded K-6 school; and (2) the…

Moore's Creek Open Elementary school, located in a quiet African-American neighborhood in a sun-belt city, has operated as a progressive school of choice since 1973, despite the low survival rate of public alternative schools. This study identifies forces that have affected curriculum and instruction at Moore's Creek over the past quarter century.…

Findings of a study that examined the outcomes of longterm institutionalization of school reform are presented in this paper. Project Excellence, implemented in 1984 in a secondary school in Cochrane, Ontario, involved a comprehensive change in curriculum, instruction, and professional roles. An initial evaluation of the program, conducted during…

A primer on strategic planning related to institutional self-studies and attempts at assessment is outlined. The refinement of a strategic plan and the preparation for continued accreditation are major events in an institution's life, but the two processes are too often kept separate. Strategic planning requires that an institution know who it is;…

Information on indicators of change in American higher education that either individually or collectively might be used to measure the health of the nation's colleges and universities is presented. Change indicators include student/faculty ratio, faculty appointments, student attitudes and characteristics, percentage of female faculty and…