As a result of investigations into overhead charges at Stanford University (California), lawmakers and federal agency officials are seeking ways to prevent universities from overcharging the government for indirect costs and ways to improve federal oversight of government payments. (DB)

Reform measures have had little effect on increasing high school students' academic performance. Instructional quality is largely determined by the attitude, competence, and talent of teachers and principals responsible for delivering classroom instruction. Contracts should be revised to increase teachers' starting salaries, enforce accountability…

Analyzes the content of the literature on community, junior, and technical colleges, utilizing a matrix with seven major classifications (i.e., governance, organization, staffing, clientele, curriculum, finance, and evaluation) and three dimensions (i.e., structure/form, function/role, and process/operations). Offers observations on effectiveness…

Scientific management and hierarchical accountability tend to destroy dialogue and issue ideas as orders to be obeyed. Instructional technology packages can actually enslave teachers. The emendation or feedback loop built into all instructional systems should allow educators to alter design in the context of practice and help technologists design…

Many school districts are offering warranties on their high school graduates' basic academic abilities; employers identifying academic skill deficiencies may return graduates to school for free retraining. The problem is how to handle "recalls" appropriately. Community benefits and criticisms of the warranty approach are discussed. A sidebar…

Demonstrates how the legal, educational, and technical determination of adequacy is a process of social construction. Identifies the social values of accountability, responsibility, and community as underpinning the societal consensus building around the concept of a "minimally adequate education." At present, educational reform does not…

Two radical ideas evolving from the school choice movement are teachers in private practice and charter schools. Private practice appeals to entrepreneurial teachers who offer districts the best bet for accountability. Under a charter school initiative, a state allows enterprising people to own and operate their own public schools. Advantages,…

Explores several dilemmas facing those interested in developing processes for principal evaluation and, drawing from program evaluation practices, suggests a consumer-oriented, outcomes-based approach for evaluating principals. The article concludes with a set of criteria for assessing any principal evaluation program. (GLR)

Presents the principles of effective supervision of library employees from practical, rather than theoretical framework. The topics covered are directed to library school students and new library professionals and include supervisory expectations, respect, delegation, communication, praise and criticism, accessibility, loyalty and support,…

Educational planning must emerge from communication and consultation with learners. Communication should (1) be about real learner needs; (2) show respect and responsibility toward the community; and (3) enable all levels of the public to have an opportunity to shape public education. (SK)

Critics of recent Australian higher education policy emphasizing accountability appears to be motivated less by fear of external scrutiny than by concern about examination of higher education's internal values and functions, particularly in the potential for conflict between liberal arts and applied and technical education. (MSE)

The essential purpose of education indicator systems is to assess direction, mission, and strategy. For state officials, this means analyzing state educational aims and determining whether they are being met. Using current state indicator systems for accountability purposes is premature. Quality considerations, relationship analysis limitations,…

The increasing demand for social work clinicians in the Department of Veterans Affairs to be accountable for outcomes of client intervention is seen as a threat to the social work profession's leadership role. One program is examined to highlight system obstacles and administrative approaches that can reduce barriers between the academic and…

Despite an apparent broad-based consensus on the need for standards, it is still appropriate to question their usefulness. Efforts to reform America's schools by specifying standard levels of expected student performance or standard units for measuring outcomes seriously oversimplify a complex and subtle task. Focus should be on (intellectually)…

The National Center on Educational Outcomes offers guidelines for including students with disabilities when identifying outcomes, assessing students, defining acceptable performance, and reporting on schools' progress in meeting outcomes. Schools should include all students in their accountability and data collection programs. All students have…