Transition education is a required component of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Information Act of 2004, and all students who have disabilities must have a transition education plan to prepare them for life after high school. However, there are no definitive standards for transition programs, and it is unclear how administrators with…

The community engagement professional (CEP) plays a critical role in engaging faculty, staff, and students with communities. In order to do this in the most effective way, this essay advocates for CEPs to become familiar with the Cooperative Extension system and develop competency for engaging Extension personnel, even when those personnel are not…

A framework using concepts from systems theory, theories of power, and the garbage can model of decision-making was developed for the purpose of teaching aspiring school administrators to analyze situations using a political lens. The framework is demonstrated in an analysis of the process that led to Ohio's establishing a school facilities…

We live in an era of unique challenges requiring us to face a new reality mired in information overload for the 21st Century. This new reality emphasizes the critical need for educational leaders who can think and act systemically rather than bureaucratically. The bureaucratic model inherited from the Industrial Era still prevails in many…

This paper presents a model for the identification and validation of competencies, designed as an all-inclusive framework, which may be adapted for specific situations. The criteria for including data in the validation process are as follows: (a) if the data are to be employed in making decisions about individuals or groups, all available evidence…

This document reports on a focus group meeting convened by the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) Board of Directors to examine the concept of educational accountability for all students, including students with disabilities. The outcome of the meeting was a definition of "accountability" and a…

Racially integrated secondary schools that draw their students from segregated communities are breeding grounds for tension and violence. To prevent such a situation, integration at the elementary level and in-service training for teachers are two steps that should be taken. (CK)

One challenge of system leadership always has been that even with the best data and research in place, with all the programmatic and political dimensions under control and with years of experience handling similar decisions, you never really know whether a policy initiative will work until you implement it. That is why anyone who has been a school…

Discusses need for systems-based approach to quality assurance in mental health services, which can provide useful information to administrators and practitioners as they work to maintain or improve quality of care provided to patients. Introduces generic model for monitoring and evaluating quality of care and discusses potential barriers to its…

This document explores the relationship between school boards and administrations, with the purpose of gaining insight about both the history and the future of public schools. First it discusses the history of their relationship up to the present time when the two bodies function as rough equals. Next it summarizes various models of…

This report considers universities as information systems because their effective operation is based on the storage, processing, and communication of various types of information. Three basic types of information systems (administrator-, teacher-, and researcher-oriented) are discussed in an attempt to understand each system's operation from the…

The author presents a model for the evaluation of administrative performance that includes three interrelated systems (the macroorganizational, the microorganizational, and the administrative evaluation systems). He describes the competency/performance approach to administrator evaluation and enumerates variables conditioning administrative…

This document conceptualizes the university as a living social system with technical, managerial, service, and institutional subsystems that have specialized goals. The document discusses models of university compliance systems--the compliance of university participants in different models such as formal, semiformal, and informal. In developing…

From the systems viewpoint, educational planning is the mechanism through which the educational system makes its goals specific and adapt its priorities, resources, and operational patterns to the changing environmental forces of its particular society. The systems-oriented administrator is a change agent and innovative strategist who delegates…

This monograph explores some implications of a new wave rooted in applications of industrial management to curriculum practice. It contains a "model" of a general strategy for evaluating and responding to proposals that particular managerial or instructional systems be adopted. Keyed to this model are specimen sets of questions for teachers,…