At present, European education policy, research and administration is dominated by a specific concept of reform, namely so-called output governance, whose rise to prominence in national contexts in the 1990s coincided with the advance of international tests of school performance such as PISA. In this article it is argued that there is much more to…

Following Snow's (1973) description of an "inductive" process of theory formation, this article addresses the organization of the knowledge base on school effectiveness. A multilevel presentation stimulated the conceptualization of educational effectiveness as an integration of system-level, school-level, and classroom-level…

Over the last several hundred years, local and national educational systems have evolved from relatively simple systems to incredibly complex, interdependent, policy-laden structures, to which many question their value, effectiveness, and direction they are headed. System Dynamics is a field of analysis used to guide policy and system design in…

This conceptual, interdisciplinary inquiry explores Complex Dynamic Systems as the concept relates to the internal and external environmental factors affecting computer assisted language learning (CALL). Based on the results obtained by de Rosnay ["World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution", 67(4/5), 304-315 (2011)], who observed…

Recent efforts to improve K-12 educational outcomes have had mixed success. One possible reason is that many students entering kindergarten lack the basic skills to succeed in school. In 2007, with support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Hawai'i launched its P-3 (preschool through third-grade) initiative, the early childhood component of the…

With seemingly fewer highly functional families, society is demanding schools that accomplish the impossible--higher standards and higher success rates. The current educational system cannot accomplish the impossible. The solution for the desired higher standards and higher success rates is not more programs or more technology. It is systems…

This chapter, drawing from the previous chapters, synthesizes potential directions and implications of future innovation in higher education. The focus is on innovation to address critical issues that administrators face today: the adaptability, maturity, cost structure, and efficiency of the institution.

The American Association of School Administrators (AASA) invited the 2007 state winners to gather in Denver, Colorado, for three days of intensive dialogue about the challenges facing today's superintendents. As a result of the panels and small group discussions that followed, superintendents identified and detailed in this paper five avenues for…

A rapidly changing global economy, shifting demographics, and concerns about our ability to maintain a competitive workforce have focused national attention on the educational systems of America's states, highlighting their critical role in ensuring a productive and creative future for our country. As a result, Americas colleges and universities…

The methodology, assumptions, and values viewed here are emergent factors that can provide the framework for a thriving new discipline. That the limits of the rational-man theory are beginning to be recognized is evidenced by considerable methodological flexibility and increased interests in personal, self-actualizing aspects of organizations.…

This study introduces the concept of Fault Tree Analysis as a systems tool and examines the implications of Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) as a technique for isolating failure modes in educational systems. A definition of FTA and discussion of its history, as it relates to education, are provided. The step by step process for implementation and use of…

Systems concepts are useful in rethinking and reorganizing the structure of education. The author presents a popular interpretation of the systems approach to problem solving. He uses a general systems theory to compare the attributes of a school system and a computer system. He uses the idea of a critical subsystem to prepare a table of…

General systems theory is a set of related definitions, assumptions, and propositions which deal with reality as an integrated hierarchy of organizations of matter and energy. In this paper, the author defines the concepts of space, time, matter, energy, and information in terms of their meaning in general systems theory. He defines a system as a…

The organization, programing procedures, disadvantages and advantages of Operational Educational Planning (OEP) are discussed. (NQ)