A system of climate learning includes students, educators, administrators, educational leaders, community members, and others across different contexts and from diverse lived experiences. As people begin to foster climate learning within these systems, the work of drawing people together in this work can seem daunting. However, the lessons from…

Continuous improvement is a holistic and research-based approach to education grounded in the belief that every system is designed to achieve the results it gets; therefore, change must be systemwide, not piecemeal. California is a national leader in the continuous improvement movement that is spreading throughout local school districts as well as…

California's school accountability and support system, the Statewide System of Support (System of Support), was designed to transform California's approach to school improvement. Rather than focusing on punitive consequences for underperformance, the System of Support is designed to provide education leaders and educators with needed support to…

The 2004 California Mental Health Services Act requires large-scale system change in the public mental health system through a shift to recovery-oriented services for diverse populations. This article describes an innovative strategy for workforce recruitment and retention to create and sustain these systemic changes. The California Social Work…

This chapter describes the system office for community college institutional research in California. As the system IR office for the largest community college system in the nation, it is often looked to as a leader for other states and community college IR systems. The author notes the office's administrative environment, its staffing and…

There is growing recognition that an electronic Student Information System (SIS) affects student learning. Given the strategic importance of SIS in supporting school administration and enhancing student performance, school districts are increasingly interested in acquiring the most effective and efficient Student Information Systems for their…

This document is intended to assist State Education Agency (SEA) and Lead Agency (LA) staff and technical assistance providers in designing a meaningful evaluation for the State Performance Plan (SPP)/Annual Performance Report (APR) improvement activities. It provides: (1) information about the relevance of evaluation in the context of improvement…

The article describes a project aimed at designing, developing, and testing a state-operated subsystem for periodic evaluation of the efficiency of individual post-high school and adult vocational programs. (JK)

Reviewed and analyzed is The California Tomorrow Plan,'' an imaginative and comprehensive strategy for turning society's assault on the environment into a coherent effort for solving social and environmental problems. If offers a rational method and system for identifying, analyzing, and coping with major disruptions in our society and…

Discusses the potential of creating constructive approaches to educational problems in Mississippi and developing and testing models for approaching similar needs in other geographic regions. (Editor)

The U. S. is losing its competitive edge in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Thomas Friedman warns that America is not producing enough young people in STEM fields that are essential for entrepreneurship and innovation in the 21st century (The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, 2005). Blue ribbon…

Assessment and evaluation can be important tools in improving the effectiveness and quality of programs, especially criminal justice programs, if they are integrated into the plans and designs of strategies instead of being added later. An evaluation systems approach to program development is needed to ensure that effectiveness and efficiency are…

An information storage and retrieval system has been developed for reporting job placement and followup data of persons trained in industrial education programs in California public schools. The system is built around five forms: (1) school registration, (2) verification of enrollment, (3) verification of address, (4) in-class follow-through, and…

The systematic approach used by the state of Washington to humanize education by meeting the computing needs of its community college system is described. A brief sketch of the background of the state's community college system is provided, along with some indications of significant trends at the community college level. The general systems…