Describes a program evaluation model that was developed over three semesters of teaching an introductory graduate-level course in program evaluation. The framework uses a systems approach that emphasizes its sequenced methodology and the significant of monitoring work through feedback loops in an ongoing revision process. (Author/SLD)

Discusses the need to have a clear understanding of the environment into which learning materials and resources are introduced. Topics discussed include the instructional design process, front end analysis, systems inquiry and design inquiry, the learner's role and the teacher's role, and the physical environment. (29 references) (LRW)

Proposes a systemically valid testing system that induces curricular and instructional changes in education systems to foster the development of the cognitive traits that tests are designed to measure. Analyzes test characteristics and outlines the principles of a systemically valid testing system. (FMW)

Describes basic concepts in the field of general systems theory (GST) and explains the relationship between instructional systems design (ISD) and GST. Benefits of integrating GST into the curriculum of ISD graduate programs are discussed, and a short bibliography on GST is included. (LRW)

The authors argue that high priority should be given to the awareness of existing conditions and needs in Third World countries before the introduction of any form of technology. They present two models that direct the thinking process toward effective technology transfer on a systematic basis. (CH)

The article presents family systems concepts to provide rehabilitation counselors with practical guidelines for working with families of persons with disabilities and describes techniques for encouraging family participation. (Author/DB)

This article identifies several advantages to utilizing a systems approach to achieve the nation's health objectives, particularly in school health education. Corresponding shortcomings of the epidemiological approach, which forms the basis of federal public health objectives for 1990, are discussed. (IAH)

Presents an approach to manage a decision support system (DSS) user interface called Expert System Interface Manager (ESIM). The importance of integrating research findings in the framework is noted; an architecture for ESIM is developed; and the prototype of the ESIM implementation is presented. (Contains 37 references.) (JLB)

Offers a definition of electronic performance support systems (EPSS) which is evolving to a systems approach. Highlights include strategic issues, including improved quality, retention of corporate knowledge, and responsiveness to business change; and cost factors, including increased productivity, reduced training costs, and development costs.…

Discusses teachers' use of systematic instructional design practices; describes fundamental components of instructional design; explains a teacher planning inventory; and reports on a study of junior and senior high school teachers that examined their use of instructional design practices in their planning routines. (Contains 21 references.) (LRW)

Presents a model of cognition and emotion that suggests that feedback between cognition and emotion generates, maintains, and reconfigures interpretations of emotion-eliciting events at micro- and macrodevelopmental time scales and that personality and behavior self-organize in response to fluctuations in perception or cognition and trace…

Argues that, because the resources of most contemporary nuclear families for monitoring and providing alternative incentives are not sufficient to compete with the positive contingencies associated with substance use, communities must support parent's efforts by supplementing them. (LKS)

The most visible large-scale university initiatives in the schools are those in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and Pueblo, Colorado. Thanks to special state legislation, Boston University has been running the Chelsea school system since 1989. The Pueblo system, which more closely resembles a corporate merger, represents a formal agreement to transform…

Whether viewed through Deming's 14 points, Juran's Trilogy, or Kaoru Ishikawa's Thought Revolution, Total Quality Management embodies 4 fundamental tenets: primary focus on customers and suppliers, universal commitment to continuous improvement, a systems approach, and top management responsibility. Educational organizations are recreating their…

Seeds of public education's current failures are found in its past successes (transmitting culture and providing custodial care). Education is experiencing paradigm paralysis because of piecemeal reform approaches, failure to integrate solution ideas, and reductionist, boundary-limiting orientation. The old system is no longer adequate. Total…