The graduate school at the University of Michigan (UM) is seeking to identify the characteristics of a high quality graduate education, taking into account various aspects of quality that are susceptible to numerical analysis as well as those that are not. Contemporary research universities are composed of many autonomous spheres (undergraduate…

A description is provided of Florida Community College at Jacksonville's institutional assessment process. Part I explains the role of institutional assessment in a cycle of planning, research, and marketing, and establishes the scope, purposes, and uses of the assessment. Part II presents an overview of the three phases of the assessment process:…

Ways to use strategic planning to enhance leadership in continuing education organizations are discussed in this collection of 12 papers. Paper titles and authors are as follows: "Why Continuing Education Leaders Must Plan Strategically" (Robert G. Simerly); "The Strategic Planning Process: Seven Essential Steps" (R. Simerly);…

Major technical issues concerning the assessment of student learning in higher education are presented in light of the authors' own knowledge of principles and methods of testing and measurement. This information is intended to help academic administrators and faculty draft a charge to a committee for the design and implementation of an assessment…

Results of this survey indicate that three important ways to improve high school student achievement are to increase daily attendance, improve study skills, and increase required courses. Two-thirds of the school district administrators responding rated increasing attendance as highly important. Almost half strongly favored increasing required…

Effective schools have staffs that stress the importance of educational goals and have a well-defined mission. They also clearly communicate the expectation that all students can and will reach the stated goals. Reviews of studies of exemplary schools find that the principals express high expectations for both teacher and student performance,…

Recent studies at the Center for Educational Policy and Management provide insight into how collective bargaining affects the teaching profession, educational policy, and student achievement. Charles Kerchner's report links a three-stage labor relations model with an analysis of teaching as work. His case studies, besides revealing wide variations…

The reactions of social studies educators to "A Nation at Risk," the report of the National Commission on Excellence in Education that examined the quality of education in the United States, are discussed. The survey was an informal one that asked educators, mainly teachers and professors, what their reactions were to the report in…

An elementary school principal's successful attempts to improve her inner-city school are described in this case study, which includes a diagram representing her formula for better education. The principal, a charismatic, elderly woman, takes an aggressive role in improving the school environment and student nutrition, encouraging and monitoring…

Based on recent school effectiveness literature, this paper suggests local policies to stimulate and facilitate school reform. After discussing the goals of the effective schools movement and briefly reviewing the literature, it presents a two-phase model for school improvement projects, based on the premise that a school's culture primarily…

Despite consensus on the administrative reforms needed in school effectiveness programs, policy problems are raised when administrators and school boards want to translate research findings on school improvement into practical terms. Although school systems are now using a number of organizational tools that lift standardized test scores (for…

Perspectives on the context and results of the investigation conducted by the National Commission on Excellence in Education are presented. It is noted that the Commission's analysis sought to determine the extent to which colleges fail to set and maintain high standards, and the extent to which they fail to make their measures and benchmarks of…

Following an argument for improving the quality of public education to further the nation's economic growth, current educational deficiencies are analyzed and an action plan presented. Methods for implementing the following recommendations are outlined: (1) governors, state legislators, boards of education, educators, and business leaders should…

This study reports on work activities structures, student social cognitive understanding, and student participation as ecological perspectives from which to describe and analyze the teaching that took place in one elementary school. Detailed descriptions of the ecological features of 10 elementary school classrooms are presented, and an…

This monograph attempts to clarify the relationship between desegregated education and effective education. The first part of the monograph concentrates on desegregation as it has been assumed to, as well as it actually appears to, relate to school academic effectiveness. The second part of the monograph addresses what is known about school…