In this concluding paper the guest editors reflect on the contents of this special issue, and give some suggestions for future use of the CST framework. An interesting disclosure is that in chaos-and-complexity research the unit of measurement is not the individual human being, but the collective (i.e. dyad, team, or group), seen as a holon.…

Based on the position that cultural ideologies shape child development, many developmental analyses have focused on analyzing cultural conceptions of independence and interdependence. Less attention has been paid to charting the developmental sequences of children's independent and interdependent behavior that are ostensibly shaped by cultural…

Whole-system transformation is complex, yet possible. The potential for engaging in a successful transformation effort is greatly increased if a district's school public relations (PR) specialists play a strong supportive role in generating, framing, and delivering information to external and internal stakeholders about the need for change, the…

In this article, the authors describe and illustrate their approach to consultancy, development and training in residential child care. When working together the authors form the MOSAIC Consortium and provide training and consultancy to residential child care services. The article draws on systems theory, systems thinking and the politics of child…

Various surveys have documented widespread support among US parents, students, teachers and health professionals for school-based comprehensive sexuality education. In many school districts, however, the sexuality education provided is minimal, incomplete or fragmented, and essential topics are often omitted or inaccurately presented. To help…

Fitness testing is an important assessment tool used by physical educators for many purposes. Some states require fitness testing to monitor individual student progress throughout the school year. Some physical educators use it to monitor the effects of the physical education curriculum and to teach concepts such as goal setting and personal…

The Council on Occupational Education, Inc. (COE) is a not-for-profit corporation that was established in 1994 to serve as a national accreditor for all providers of postsecondary work force training and education who can meet its standards. The COE has developed a new system of quality assurance for occupational education that emphasizes the…

Marriage and Family Therapy is an increasingly popular treatment that was almost unknown 50 years ago. Family Therapy has been multidisciplinary from the beginning, drawing practitioners from social work, psychology, psychiatry, nursing, and pastoral and mental health counseling. It is often difficult to get a whole family to arrange schedules so…

This paper summarizes a new paradigm of instructional supervision, which shifts the focus on supervision from an examination of individual behavior to the improvement of work processes and social system components of the school district. The paradigm, called "Knowledge Work Supervision," helps teams of teachers and specially trained supervisors…

This paper summarizes a new paradigm of instructional supervision, which shifts the focus from individual behavior to the improvement of work processes and social system components of the school district. The proposed paradigm, the Knowledge Work Supervision model, is derived from sociotechnical systems design theory and linked to the premise that…

This paper examines elements that support the creation of a Motivational Learning Environment. Is it possible to motivate students or should educators focus their energy on creating a motivational learning environment in which students become self-directed and self-motivated learners? The paper focuses on the topics of paradigms, purpose, people,…

For the field of human development, the synthesis of older theories of the environment, newer context theories, biological theories, and systems theories permit the generation of new models for the developmental process. This paper reviews, compares, and contrasts recent theories of development and presents a synthesis that can guide future…

Michael Oakeshott, an English political philosopher, wrote extensively about education and how people learn political skills. Much of what he wrote may have interesting implications for instructional systems design. This paper is an explication of two aspects of Oakeshott's writings. The first deals with the nature of knowledge and its…

Testimony about the role of federal leadership in facilitating district-level reform efforts is presented in this report. Data were derived from a literature review and consultation with school reform experts. Further data were collected from visits to four districts--Johnson City, New York; Moss Point, Mississippi; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and…

Testimony on the role of federal leadership in facilitating district-level reform efforts is offered in this report, which focuses on four districts with many years of participation in systemwide educational reform. Five key components of systemwide reform are identified: standards for all students; curricula tied to those goals; high-quality…