Describes implementation of a system-level planning model focused on institutional improvement and effectiveness at the University of Missouri. Details implementation of three phases of the strategic planning model (strategic analysis, strategic thinking/decision-making, and campus outreach/systems administration planning); identifies critical…

Analogies drawn from a whitewater kayaking trip illustrate principles of enactive theory, which holds that mind, body, and world are interconnected. Learning, action, and place influence, and are influenced by, each other. Experience emerges collectively through the interrelationships of body, environment, social history, and perception as a…

Authors examine the construct of resilience and its application in schools. Analysis suggests several cautions concerning adoption of programs and practices related to resilience. These include: problems with locating resilience in children instead of systems; over-reliance upon programs to promote resilience instead of natural processes; and the…

Describes a counseling center's experience using a "systems" approach to address student retention by initiating campus-wide collaboration. Discusses the use of systemic problem solving and how the process works in action. Notes a specific benefit to the counseling center was the creation of new relationships between academic and student affairs…

Examines how school counselors can apply systems theory and social ecology to problem conceptualization and intervention planning. Also explores the implications of this broadened paradigm for the school counselor's role. Asserts that in order to achieve broad-based change, schools, families, and communities must engage in collaborative problem…

Reviews and gives an overview of counseling techniques covering 10 topic areas related to marriage and family functioning that are used in assessment and diagnosis. Examines assessment and its relationship to diagnosis, with special reference to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual series. (JPS)

Describes an initiative at Duke University (North Carolina) to develop a recognition and rewards strategy to improve the institution's ability to recruit and retain information technology staff. Details the design phase of the six job bands, guiding principles, development of a budget-neutral recognition strategy, system design, the implementation…

Based on a study at the College Preparatory Program of Saudi Aramco, this article outlines three suggestions for organizations which sponsor employees in pre-university and university programs. The first addresses specific areas in the sponsorship program. The second suggests use of a systems approach. The third provides alternatives to…

Fifty-five schools implemented substance abuse prevention programs, some received additional support from an outside innovator. Findings are interpreted from an ecological systems approach and in relationship to development and environment factors. Theoretical and programmatic implications are discussed, and recommendations for school social…

Discusses systems dynamics (SD) and considers the types of learning environments that can be designed on the basis of SD models. Highlights include social systems theory; classical systems theory and autopoietic systems theory; models of social systems; computer-based learning environments; simulation modes; and participative design of interactive…

In this "Handbook" chapter on internationalization of educational administration, authors inappropriately equate international exchanges, pluralism in theory and research, and global patterns of educational activity with internationalization. Authors neglect intercultural thinking, overlook the rich research literature, inadequately…

Discusses a graduate-level course in mariculture to help students synthesize what they have learned in traditional courses and apply that higher-level understanding in a systematic and explicit way in evaluating complex issues. (Author/CCM)

Asserts that weaving incremental changes into the existing stable system of undergraduate education cannot result in significant improvement because systems determine outcomes. Encourages higher education leaders to abolish the course-credit system, explaining that altering graduation requirements changes everything else: student motivation and…

Realizing how difficult it is to pass tax issues today, many school boards with all good intentions place them on the ballot before the money is really needed. They do this so if the tax issues are not approved, they have another chance to get them passed before serious educational cuts have to be made. In states where school districts must rely…

External and internal forces are driving institutions not only to create departments and positions that specialize in planning, quality improvement, and institutional research but also to link them within a systems context.