The environment most characterizing today's public schools is continuous change, spurred by increased demands for performance and accountability. However, discontinuous change, in which organizations must question basic operating assumptions, is imminent. Continuous learning must be built into an organizations' fabric and it needs acceptable…

Continues discussion of a distance-education systems model (presented in previous issues). Examines societal systems, the next level of this hierarchical model. Discusses responding to social needs, social and economic change in the 1990s, and distance and higher education in the 1990s. Provides samples of newspaper articles, one of the main…

Examines three factors contributing to organizational success: use of a systemic model to design and guide the change effort; analysis of interdependencies within the system and of the change potential; and use of communication methods to help ensure that the change will be supported. Presents characteristics of successful change efforts with…

Discusses Harmonium Inc., a community-based agency that counsels adolescents who are at moderate to high risk of developmental defeat because their behavior either threatens their health or jeopardizes their future. It is designed to assist these adolescents using a collaborative, strength-based counseling model built in the integrative capacity…

The Specialized Vocational Training Institutions known as Institut Medico-Professionel (IMPro) in France are faced with increasing demands to provide quality services to adolescents with intellectual disabilities. This article describes the process of organizational changes in IMPro including the model, methods, tools, and techniques used in…

In the past 5 years, the Center for Ecoliteracy's Food Systems Project has grown from one schoolyard garden to the complete reinvention of Child Nutrition Services throughout the Berkeley Unified School District. Using food as the organizing principle for systemic change, the project is devising a pattern of healthy food, improved academic…

Discusses how human performance technology can help new Internet companies. Highlights include major business goals; using a systems approach to look for gaps in the organization itself, personnel, behavior, performance, feedback, communication, and internal inefficiencies; compensation structures; recruiting; training; rewarding performance; and…

This article summarizes a process model designed to help schools include students with complex social, emotional, and behavioral needs in general classroom settings. Challenges to inclusion of these students are identified, and the seven-step model is explained and illustrated through examples of systems change projects throughout New Hampshire.…

Analyzes data emerging from a study that examined membership criteria for school teams. Six midwestern urban schools were followed for six months during the process of selecting and initiating parental and community involvement on advisory councils. Participation and attendance rates among minority participants were lower than for nonminority…

Accountability policy research relies on systems theory, objectivism, and logical empiricism to identify learning performance indicators. Policy knowledge production should permit a more holistic, causally interdependent view of teaching, learning, and leadership services. Presents an accountability policy methodology stressing formative…

Proposes a variety of epistemological lenses for viewing the school change process for school administrators' use. Applies these lenses in an actual case study depicting school change, illustrating how administrators can shift focus, position, and mode of inquiry from their usual rational viewpoint. Analyzes implications of using such lenses for…

W. Edwards Deming's quality philosophy can help organizations develop collaborative, community-building leadership practices. This article outlines five personal practices of quality based on personal leadership, partnerships, a systems focus, a process orientation, and constant dedication to continuous improvement. Stumbling blocks can be…

Discusses the lack of a comprehensive family policy in the United States and how it affects family therapy and social services. Although ideas about what constitutes a family has changed, what exists of U.S. family policy has not. Argues that family policy and family therapy are becoming mutually exclusive concepts. (JPS)

Examines the educational change process in the Czech Republic since 1989, focusing on persistence of past attitudes, change complexity, external factors facilitating change, role of national reform organizations, absence of conceptually coherent educational policy, growing advocacy for special education, and parent and teacher attitudes. Explores…

Data from various national farm surveys suggest that computers on farms are used predominantly for bookkeeping and financial analysis. Computers are not fully exploited to integrate information from diverse aspects of farm operations and therefore, may not help users develop the "systems skills" important in off-farm employment. Implications for…