The one-university idea--that the University of California is a single institution whose campuses are united in the pursuit of a common mission and common standards of quality--has been a guiding organizational principle since UC President Robert Gordon Sproul first articulated it in the 1930s. This paper examines the origins of the one-university…

The need for organizations to adapt nimbly in a fast-paced global society is a given. But ask any education leader or business person how to do that in a way that truly drives the organization forward and one may get silence--or worse, a weary look that bespeaks a grievous experience. Leaders know all too well that the gap between a new idea and…

Recovery of significant achievements by exemplary individuals and institutions in public education and librarianship informs our present understanding and motivates future efforts. This narrative history recounts some of the struggles and successes of a great city library when the very conception of a free, public library was still being defined.…

Three different approaches to the problem of linking educational knowledge producers and knowledge users are studied in this paper. First, data are reported describing the knowledge generation and knowledge communication behavior of twelve successful innovators. Second, characteristics of twelve programs, conceived to train persons as change…

Change efforts should be guided with a systemic understanding of the context in which they are undertaken. Depending on the circumstance, or as the implementation effort progresses, it may be most effective to focus interventions on a particular component of the framework at a time. This ERIC digest presents a sequence for approaching the major…

In the New York City high schools, three change strategies have been used to improve a system which, in and by itself, is dramatically changing. The high school system has undergone significant changes in purpose, organization, culture and student performance. The first change strategy established a partnership between the high schools and the…

This paper discusses the Futures-Perspectives in American Education which is a method of educational planning which attempts to comprehensively and systematically speculate about long term possibilities in the educational domain and social environment. Part I is concerned with what it means to think about the future. Methods for thinking about…

Contends that systemic reform is required to improve student achievement. Describes 10 system-building standards from the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE): the educational environment, governance and policy issues, preservice and inservice education, teaching practices, assessment practices, personnel and curricular materials…

In order to develop an understanding of vocational education personnel development and to explore the management of change as related to implementation and improvement of the system, 228 vocational educators and leaders in industry at a 2-day national summer workshop sponsored by the U.S. Office of Education agreed on the need for a comprehensive,…

In evaluating this pilot project, which developed a computer system for assessing student progress and cost effectiveness as related to achievement of performance objectives, interviews were conducted with project participants, including project staff, school administrators, and the auto shop instructors. Project documents were reviewed and a…

This study examined 10 institutions of higher education with widely different characteristics to determine whether, in the process of implementing quality improvements, they had become "learning organizations." Data were gathered through questionnaires and interviews with more than 20 individuals at nine of the campuses, and were then…

Since the mid-1990s, job-training and employment programs for low-income people have begun to emphasize not only program development and implementation, but also reform of the "system" of labor market, employers, training providers, and helping agencies. In 1995, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which launched the Jobs Initiative in 6…

This handbook guides college and university business officers, from small liberal arts colleges to community colleges to research universities, through the complex set of decisions and actions associated with replacing financial management systems. It lists the steps necessary to evaluate an institution's current hardware, network, and software;…