The recent press for high-stakes accountability has challenged school leaders to use data to guide the practices of teaching and learning. This article considers how local school leaders build data-driven instructional systems to systematically improve student learning. Such systems are presented as a framework involving data acquisition, data…

Distance education has become important as both geographic isolation and need outstrip available resources. New technologies such as Australia's Diverse Use of Communications Technology system help bridge the financial gap and spread resources more equitably. Future success depends heavily on proper management of emerging technologies. (8…

Provides a basic definition of the systems approach and explains the school as an open social-technical system composed of five subsystems--goals and values, technical, psychosocial, structural, and managerial. Contrasts the systems approach with earlier management theories that emphasized particular subsystems and ignored others. (JHZ)

Describes the 4Mat System, an instructional plan adapted to diverse learning styles, and suggests ways for teachers to use the system. Includes seven recommendations for staff development. (MCG)

Discussion of five issues selected from National Association of Secondary School Principals' national study of middle level education and principalship. (DCS)

A group of school districts in Western Oregon has developed a goal-based improvement model that provides teachers and administrators with a common information base. (Author)

The curriculum matrix is a tool to help curriculum coordinators, principals, and superintendents specify, justify, and align curriculum and instructional time to district specified standards. The problem the curriculum matrix solves is connecting the curriculum; that is, tracing an idea from initial justification to its placement in the curriculum…

Designed primarily for use by potential users of telecourses produced by other institutions or production houses, this guide provides fundamental information on the design, use, and management of telecourses, and describes experiences of successful telecourse users. It is noted that this guide is also applicable to radio courses, and the…

This report summarizes the responses of the State University of New York (SUNY) constituent institutions to the biannual survey of Non-Credit Instructional Activities for July 1, 1990, through December 31, 1990. Non-Credit Course (NCC) reports one through six are summary reports of the number of non-credit activities and registrations by sex…

This book, written with reference to British schools, examines the skills that are needed for educational management and leadership, and discusses how those skills should be applied. The first chapter sets out the tasks and skills involved in each of three major areas: the management of learning, the school as a community, and the management of…

This book is designed to provide practical information about planning and operating virtual, or online, schools. It discusses and illustrates promising practices and successful models and approaches; provides planning resources for implementation; presents costs and benefits of launching virtual schools; offers preventive strategies that help…

The professional development process can be organized as a continuous, multifaceted, proactive, and integrated system that is futures-oriented and focused on adaptation as an essential organizational function. A systems model employing a university professional school as an example is presented. It focuses on professional schools because they lend…

Examines practical applications for the suitability of two different approaches to quality management within engineering education. One utilizes quality systems standards as typified by a specific industrial process that ensures an effective production system. The other applies the notion of total quality management emphasizing a process of…

Given current emphasis on the importance of the principal as an instructional leader, this document outlines a training session designed to help principals learn and share effective teaching methods. Trends in inservice training are discussed, and research on aspects of teacher effectiveness such as clarity of presentation, student-centered…

This document proposes a plan to significantly increase the number of fully prepared freshmen at Ohio's colleges and universities by the year 2001. The plan, prepared by the Ohio Secondary and Higher Education Remediation Advisory Commission, makes five recommendations: (1) communicate a consistent set of college-level expectations and articulate…