Examines the responses of leaders of an institution of higher education to efforts by the Chief Academic Officer to change the campus environment to enhance professional life for female and minority administrators and faculty. Open dialogue, frank discussion, and strategies for accountability are cited as important change factors. (SLD)

Public schools that contract with someone outside to offer an instructional program need to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to potential providers. This document details the type of service desired and invites individuals or companies to submit bids or proposals for consideration. Explains the key components of an RFP. (MLF)

Discusses colleges' use of popular financial reporting to make their annual financial reports more readable to citizens and legislators and to make their reports useful marketing and recruitment tools. Highlights research about financial reports and performance reporting conducted by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. Describes the…

Explores and criticizes some contentious issues involved in a British legislation-driven teacher-appraisal system that encourages professional development but regards schools and teachers as consumable products. Explores a self-appraisal approach that upholds the profession, but produces clear performance indicators to provide a stricter…

Examines the strengths and weaknesses of outcome-based education (OBE). Indicates that OBE's emphasis on concrete, demonstrable results allows educators to implement a unified and effective curriculum but that its methods raise questions about student motivation, the value of effort over ability, and compromised educational standards. (MAB)

The 1994 Kurt Hahn Award recipient and president of the American Youth Foundation discusses essential elements for personal and systemic change, including creativity (which provides energy and direction), character (which defines who we are), and commitment (which requires accountability), all of which enable individuals and organizations to…

Educational achievement testing is discussed from four perspectives: (1) political accountability; (2) parental need for information on children's academic achievement; (3) the undue influence of achievement tests on curricula and instruction; and (4) students' views of testing. It is concluded that standardized testing has an overall negative…

Discussion of collection assessment focuses on academic library experiences. Topics addressed include library accountability; funding shortages; barriers to collection assessment; strategies to aid in assessment, including adequate training and performance incentives; and implications of collection assessment for library budgets, including…

Customer satisfaction as applied to schools assumes that no single change or reform will fix the schools forever; school districts must embrace a process of continuous improvement to respond to changing customer demands. This article describes one suburban California district's new strategic planning process: inviting customers to shape the…

The Cherry Creek (Colorado) Schools opted for the research assessment as being much more indepth than report writing, which calls up plagiaristic tendencies in many elementary school children. Assessment tasks must be engaging and encourage students to evaluate themselves against predefined standards. Administrators must help teachers develop a…

Examines the potentials of technology to help the cooperative learning process. The need for interaction between cooperative learning practitioners and technology users is discussed; and research on the integration of technology into cooperative learning is reviewed, including group dynamics, making each student accountable, and attributional…

Investigates educational interest group use of courts to force educational decision makers to implement policy changes in Canada. Results show that all five preconditions for establishing a new third judicial level of educational policymaking have been met. Many interest groups excluded from the policymaking process have the political will and…

States are enacting new laws and policies that require colleges and universities to demonstrate efficiency, quality, and sound stewardship of public money. School accountability is regaining prominence in a period of shrinking state budgets and taxpayer concern about rising costs. (MSE)

Presents an interim vision of a performance assessment model for middle schools that is built on a culture of high expectations, internal accountability, and rites of passage expressed in student portfolios. Despite problems with portfolio work, all students and teachers must have ongoing experience with demanding tasks and high standards. Test…

Parents object to outcome-based education because it rejects the basics, subject-matter knowledge, and individual achievement and emphasizes vague, subjective goals. The Eagle Forum president's major objections to OBE are its "dumbing-down" effect, "feel good" emphasis, antiphonics commitment, stress on politically correct…