This guide provides a 10-step process for building a learning organization. It shows any organization how to develop and sustain an environment favorable to learning at every level, to reawaken and stimulate the power of learning in all members of the organization, and to harness the new learning that was generated to produce the maximum benefit…

This paper narrates the experiences of a superintendent hired into Montgomery Township School District (New Jersey), an affluent, small school district with a history of labor relations problems. When hired in 1990, the new superintendent was confronted with seven pending grievance cases and the board of education's rejection of the annual school…

This paper explores the detrimental effects that assumptions and labels have caused people with mental retardation and examines the concept of changing societal attitudes. The paper points out that: mental retardation has often been regarded not simply as one aspect of a person's life, but as engulfing the person's whole life and becoming that…

This study investigated the procedures used by psychologists in a large midwestern urban area for the initial diagnosis and placement of elementary children with severe emotional disturbance (SED) in educational programs in light of the widespread criticism of the use of projective tests due to the questionable reliability of the tests and…

This paper argues for a more robust and encompassing understanding of the roles and functions of institutional research in higher education institutions in the context of fundamental shifts in the way decisions are being made in colleges and universities. In particular institutional researchers can no longer simply collect, analyze and disseminate…

The increased mobility of the American population combined with the school choice movement has contributed to increased consumerism in parents' selection of schools. A consulting firm program, "SchoolMatch," matches information from databases on public and private schools with information from questionnaires of clients, which include…

The Loudoun County, Virginia, middle school home economics curriculum has been designed to meet the unique needs of the early adolescent. It is based upon three major concepts: (1) basic skills; (2) self-knowledge/understanding/decision making; and (3) independence/interdependence. This guide on teen living for sixth graders includes a curriculum…

This paper presents a theoretical discussion of how students make educational behavior decisions including attending a given institution, transferring, or dropping out. The theory is seen to apply to students of all ages and both sexes with implications for all areas of postsecondary education. The theory holds that educational decisions are based…

Designed to guide community college administrators in developing an effective state government relations program, this paper reviews recent literature, documents, and journal articles that: (1) present calls for action and provide a rationale for developing a legislative relations program; (2) provide guidelines and checklists outlining the steps…

This evaluation analyzes the School Improvement Plans (SIPs) produced by the core planning teams of Project Creating a New Approach to Learning (CANAL), part of a court-mandated desegregation plan to reduce inequities in predominantly Black and Hispanic American schools in Chicago (Illinois). CANAL's goal is to organize and train core planning…

Participatory evaluation is an assessment approach that involves the participants of a study from beginning to end. The evaluation strategy was implemented in a public school district to assess teacher involvement in decisionmaking, determine whether teachers desire more participation, and evaluate the assessment strategy itself. Data were…

As a result of the 1988 Chicago School Reform Act, a number of powers previously exercised at the central administration or board level have devolved upon the Local School Councils (LSCs) and principals. The cooperation of 14 representative schools was enlisted for an ongoing qualitative study of the dynamics of reform at the local level. To date,…

Just as student centered, collaborative classrooms give students the power to direct their own learning, so too a collaborative, partnership model for the writing staff leads to empowerment and professionalism. At Western Illinois University, involving temporary instructors in the process of curriculum development not only served to boost their…

Emphasizing critical thinking as the source of renewal and survival of organizations, this document begins by analyzing the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the destruction of the space shuttle Challenger as examples of inadequate critical thinking. The role of management education in promoting critical thinking is explored as well as the need for a…

Using the Dunkin and Biddle model, this field study examined the effects of the application of the assessment and goal-setting stage of the Enhanced Normative Systems Model (ENSM) on change at a state university. The ENSM, a blending of the Normative Systems Model and Metanoic Principles, emphasizes participant decision making and cultural change.…