The federal government increasingly expects child welfare systems to be more responsive to the needs of their local populations, connect strategies to results, and use continuous quality improvement (CQI) to accomplish these goals. A method for improving decision making, CQI relies on an inflow of high-quality data, up-to-date research evidence,…

Strengthening Pre-collegiate Education in Community Colleges (SPECC) was organized by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in partnership with The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to increase student learning in developmental--or basic skills--classes. However, their concern was not just the success of students in classes…

The context of and the participatory strategic planning process at the University of Texas, El Paso, from 1993 to 1996 is described. The internal and external factors that influence the intensive interactive process are reviewed; the university's conceptual framework for strategic planning is described; and the role of the university's planning…

Colleges and universities should place less emphasis on the leadership of one or a few individual administrators and concentrate on creating a culture of leadership that will empower all members of the institution. The human resource development program at Boston College (Massachusetts) exemplifies the dynamic possibilities of leadership…

Describes an effort to institutionalize service learning within the academic departments of the University of Utah. A community service center at the university, through its faculty advisory committee, developed campus-wide support for incorporating service learning into the core offerings of 14 academic units. Models developed by the academic…

The James Madison University (Virginia) experience in implementing the "Student Learning Imperative" is described. Challenges to be met in creating programs, services, and curricula focused on learning and a strong sense of intentionality are discussed including circumstances for change; compatibility of project and community values;…

In many school districts, particularly large urban districts, there has been an increase in the number of language minority students and in the linguistic and sociocultural diversity of these students. Historically, programs that served these students tended to operate and be administered separately from the mainstream program. Recent federal…