This review of the professional and programmatic literature in the field of developmental disabilities focuses on ways in which individuals with developmental disabilities and their families are becoming increasingly involved in program evaluation and quality assurance efforts. Three major movements are having an impact on this activity: state and…

Because the quality management (QM) movement can be very important in school improvement efforts, it is essential to determine how QM can fit with relatively new restructuring ideas and whether this approach is consistent with existing school structures and processes. This book presents an integrated approach to holistic quality management that…

Nine Canadian health libraries participated in a pilot test of the Benchmarking Tool Kit between January and April, 1998. Although the Tool Kit was designed specifically for health libraries, the content and approach are useful to other types of libraries as well. Used to its full potential, benchmarking can provide a common measuring stick to…

This report examines the changing nature of higher education policy and the fact that many policy assumptions are no longer valid, and sets out a research agenda for the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education (NCPPHE). It discusses how the growing importance of higher education, and postsecondary education in general, is affecting…

This document is one of three texts which comprise the written components of The Responsive College Programme dissemination materials. The program is designed to help colleges in the United Kingdom market themselves and their courses effectively, and this volume, which is freestanding and directed at both the general reader and the specialist,…

Ten New Zealand kindergartens, play centers, and child care centers were studied to assess the consequences of government-mandated charter development. Issues related to the charter document, consultation, effects on centers and participants, government bureaucracy, and the impact of becoming chartered were examined. It was found that there was…

A Total Quality Management team was formed at Oregon State University to improve the quality of student information publications. The team studied the critical process in detail, identified "customers" of student information publications, defined information to be solicited from the customers, interviewed them, and gathered data for…

The base-year survey of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) took place in spring 1988. Data on a variety of topics were obtained by questionnaires and achievement tests administered to a national probability sample of 25,000 eighth-graders. This report presents results of an examination of the quality of responses of…

This paper discusses strategic planning for quality in higher education and provides specific examples of institutions working to adopt strategic quality planning. In particular the paper looks at institutions adopting the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) principles. A section on early lessons notes common obstacles to CQI implementation in…

These guidelines for service evaluation arose out of a 1986 meeting of the International League of Societies for Persons with Mental Handicap. An introduction focuses on the concepts of support and service and the need for minimizing restrictiveness and empowering the individual. Seven principles are enumerated, specifying the rights of people…

This guide to assessing engineering education in Sub-Saharan Africa consists of three sections, covering: (1) assessment of qualitative and quantitative needs; (2) assessment of the engineering education institution in developing countries; and (3) methods of forecasting demand for engineers; assessment of the efficiency of engineering training…

This book, written by an organizational development director and consultant in the fields of quality improvement, management, and design of training systems to Fortune 500 clients, offers a six-step improvement strategy and a six-phase training curriculum that can be adapted to the needs of companies in various fields. Seven chapters present ideas…

The gap between learning and assessment is apparent both in the beliefs of children, who often see no connection between the two, and in the practices of teachers, who do not choose to use the most recently developed means of assessment. This gap stems from management theory and from learning theory. Traditional management in the United States has…

A project was conducted to improve the productivity and efficiency of 10 manufacturers by providing workplace literacy instruction to workers lacking basic skills required for their jobs, and to improve the capability of educational programs to meet the basic skill needs of the manufacturing industry by developing an evaluation manual for basic…

This publication consists of an essay entitled "Managerialism and the Academic Profession: The Case of England," by Martin Trow, along with a commentary on the essay by Paul Clark. Trow argues that over the past decade British higher education has undergone a more profound reorientation than any other system among industrial societies.…