Provides tips for improving staff communication in early-childhood centers. Suggests directors use a bulletin board that invites notes from employees; make sure that the center's newsletter invites input and letters to the editor; have an open-door policy or a visitors' time; and most importantly, focus on listening to what staff has to say. (AA)

Discusses faculty professionalism from institutional, scholastic, classroom research, and pedagogical frames of reference. Stresses importance of defining two-year college faculty as professionals. Identifies two barriers to developing faculty culture: treating the above frames of references as mutually exclusive and regarding colleges in terms of…

A survey of 116 elementary school and secondary school teachers in 1 school district examined the influences of different organizational and psychological factors on teachers' willingness to participate in decision making at the school level. Teachers vary in willingness to participate, but teacher-principal working relationships exert significant…

Cross-national differences in political, legislative, administrative, regulatory, and judicial systems that may present obstacles to reaching international agreements are discussed. These differences are identified from research comparing the regulation of chemical hazards in Europe and the United States. Implications for the problem of global…

Improved evaluation of higher education teaching and research is urged, citing need for quantitative and qualitative indicators of an institution's strategic capacity to adapt to external demands and for closer links between evaluation and institutional goals. Industry's strategic management methods and difficulties of evaluation in different…

Discusses features in the physical environment that need to be considered for integrated learning systems (ILSs). Highlights include ergonomics; lighting, including contrast and colors; space, furniture, and equipment, including keyboard, monitor, software, and printer; ambient noise and acoustics; temperature, humidity, and air quality control;…

Describes organizational conditions and social processes related to family-school interactions that are necessary to promote school-linked social service systems. Case studies of two elementary schools with students of low socioeconomic status are used to compare school policies and procedures. Policy proposals are presented for expanding and…

Describes strategies used by 10 academic medical centers to preserve missions in face of changing demands and declining resources. Strategies include balancing planning and opportunism, developing new approaches for faculty participation in governance, experimenting with organization of core functions, listening to the customer, aligning…

Considers the use of Total Quality Management (TQM) tools by library managers to develop quality relationships between staff and customers. Topics include building a shared vision, putting the needs of customers before organizational politics, cooperation between levels of employees, communication, teamwork, trust, redesigning processes and…

Examines the conclusions and recommendations of the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities, which were designed to stimulate reform in public higher education in five areas: the student experience; access; the engaged institution; promotion of a learning society; and campus culture. (MSE)

A survey investigated college faculty and administrator attitudes on issues related to institutional governance. Results offer trustees several strategies for fostering institutional change: build on the overlap in attitudes about governance; foster dialog about teaching, research, and governance among board, faculty, and administrators; improve…

The evolution of the Mt. Hood Community College (Oregon) effort to analyze institutional policies affecting high-risk students is chronicled from the early 1980s to the present, from the initial findings of program ineffectiveness to program improvement. Chronicle includes successes and limitations of several early-change strategies, and factors…

Developments in the state role in higher education in the 1980s, and how this role changed in the recession period of 1989-92, are reviewed. Seven major issues that will affect government-higher education relationships in the next decade are examined: supply/demand, commitment to universal access, quality control, federal fiscal constraints,…

A study of 1,261 doctoral students in chemistry, civil engineering, microbiology, and sociology investigated student experiences with research, employment, and personal misconduct in academic departments, including the effects of departmental structure, department climate, and academic discipline. No disciplinary differences were found, but…

Utilizes two-dimensional price and output graphs to demonstrate the way that the price-level elasticity of aggregate demand affects alternative monetary policy rules designed to cope with random aggregate supply shocks. Includes graphs illustrating price-level, real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), nominal GDP, and nominal money supply targeting.…