This paper examines the establishment and maintenance of a major data processing cooperative in the intermediate districts of the state of Michigan. It traces the development of the computer software system from its early stages as RAMS software to the data base IMS architecture, a level of system software that matches the technological advance of…

The paper examines the role of intermediate units in the provision of special education services to handicapped children with emphasis on formal and informal intermediate unit arrangements in New Jersey. Stressed for program effectiveness is the importance of positive attitudes of staff, practicality of programs, community and parent acceptance.…

Two interventions of a university-based organizational development (OD) team with the administrators of a local Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) are described. The intervention was invited by the new superintendent of the BOCES. The first intervention focused on skill development and goal clarification. Because of a crisis in the…

Four intermediate district models presented at a Massachusetts conference on organization and collaboration suggest a way that many otherwise unavailable services can be provided to local districts. These services range from programs in special and vocational education to computer networks and administrative services. Known by a variety of titles,…

In its least complex form, a cooperative can be an informal agreement between two or more school districts to cooperatively accomplish some task. As a cooperative gets more formalized and organized, with its own staff, its operations become more removed the control of its constituents and member districts. The local school district's primary…

This paper discusses intergovernmental relationships between education service agencies (ESAs) in Pennsylvania and the agencies they serve, namely, the state department of education and local school districts. Some suggestions made are that ESA policies retain flexibility and that local control be retained in ESA programs, for example, through…

The purpose of the research on which this paper is based is to develop fundamental understanding of the problem-solving behavior of school superintendents, given the political character of their work environment. Data drawn from interviews with a school superintendent and a long-standing consultant to school boards are relied on as the basis for…

Each of the divisions of the Office of Educational Accountability in the District of Columbia Public Schools was required to submit an evaluation design that would be used to measure division accomplishments at the end of the school year. Since the Division of Research and Evaluation had already completed the development of the Planning,…

Basic science is a process by which new knowledge is discovered; engineering is the process by which this new knowledge is made useful for practical situations or to solve particular problems. In education, new products are developed, research is completed, and the knowledge base is expanded, but there is no corollary to the engineer to make…

The background and the organization of the reading internship run by Oakland Schools (Michigan) are briefly described. The eight-week program provides training for elementary and secondary teachers from constituent school districts, which enables them to function as reading support personnel. Areas of study include reading theory and methodolgoy,…

The Evaluation Office of the Region 20 Education Service Center, which serves 50 school districts in the San Antonio (Texas) area, is delineated in this report. The introduction describes the location, size, and budget of the agency as well as the structure and funding of the evaluation office. The first chapter notes the region's future needs for…

This monograph contains seminar papers concerning educational policy issues presented in Nebraska from 1972-1978. In the papers, recognized educational experts in the state react to substantive issues and follow up with a current status report. The issues discussed include networking to develop policy, accountability, federal involvement,…

One approach by the state of Georgia to ensure equal educational opportunity for all children has been to organize a method whereby several school systems within an identified geographical region may share services they cannot afford to provide individually. By legislative action in 1972, provisions for Cooperative Educational Service Agency…

Levels of Use (LOU) interviews can be used for formative evaluation purposes in an intermediate education agency. Programs and services for training teachers provided to districts are evaluated. LOU interviews give program staff unique information for improving programs. Program improvement is aided by LOU interviews because information is…

The speaker concentrates on the effects of statewide accountability implementation on school system management and on the state's delivery of educational services. In discussing the need to link accountability systems with existing organizational systems, the speaker spends the majority of his time examining how the New Jersey efforts relate to…