Describes a workshop strategy which provides a mechanism for implementing change and facilitates the administrative support necessary to improve nursing care in institutional settings. Participants learn to set realistic, high-priority goals; implement change theory; and use available resources to achieve a goal. (CT)

Compared two behavioral treatments for marital discord with a nonspecific control and waiting-list control. Behavioral treatments combined problem-solving skills with contingency management procedures, differing only in contracting form, good faith contracts, and quid pro quo contracts. Both behavioral groups improved significantly more than…

This paper discusses the role of mentors in individualized learning at Empire State College. This individualized learning program and the components of the role of mentor are defined and illustrated. (Available: School of External Studies, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, 167 Franklin Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia.) (CT)

Explains the use of "performance contracting" to pay for newly installed equipment designed to improve school energy and operating efficiency. Examples of maintenance cost savings are highlighted. (GR)

In October, a revised set of test scores showed that students in the eight Education Alternative, Inc. (EAI), schools in Baltimore, Maryland, had not performed as well as originally reported. Indicates that a contract with a for-profit company should specify how much test scores or attendance should improve each year and what the consequences are…

Physicians were asked to commit through learning contracts to pre/posttests, seminar attendance, and follow-up tests and surveys in a continuing medical education program on various new treatments. Results indicated lasting gains in knowledge and behavior changes in patient care. (SK)

Describes Riga Aviation University's movement from a controlled professional-education program to a system of contract relations with students as education service customers. Discusses a study of students' demands, requirements, and issues and the development of a quality assurance system based on Total Quality Management and ISO 9000 standards.…

Illustrates the use of learning contracts with students involved in science projects. For the learner, the contract is a worksheet to help plan the project as well as an agreement that outlines the tasks to be performed. (DDR)

As the Houston (Texas) Independent School District decentralized decision making and exchanged a culture of compliance for one stressing professional performance, they made corresponding changes in management. To attract a new breed of administrators, the district offers higher pay for higher job expectations (and less job security), via…

Analyzes current debate on changes in Japan's higher education system which involve "corporatizing" all national universities and introducing performance-based contractual funding. Suggests that these changes may be part of a complex game of struggle for control. (EV)

During the early 1970s, over 150 school districts and several states contracted with private companies to deliver instruction, and the Nixon Administration initiated a vast privatization field experiment in Texarkana. None of these performance contracting experiments significantly improved instruction. Instead, they raised issues of staffing,…

This brief paper reflects one graduate instructor's efforts to bring about the use of qualitative action research in his classes through utilizing contract grading. Students select among various options such as demonstration teaching, peer coaching, shadowing, in school staff or PTA presentations, or other kinds of action research involving…

This study examines restructuring from principals' perspectives. It explores restructuring as a "deal" between a district and individual schools, wherein the school receives greater autonomy over budgets, personnel, and school policies, in return for stricter accountability for results, usually defined in terms of student achievement.…

The use of the contract in social work practice is gaining momentum. In contrast to much of the literature, which has tended to be uncritical, this article takes into account gaps in knowledge, limitations, and potential dangers. (Author)

The contract system where the student makes his own decision about the grade he desires and then works toward the achievement of that goal is examined. Five pass/fail assignments for a U.S. history course are suggested as possible student tasks. (DE)