The basic rationale for using objective tests is that they are relevant and reliable measures of the most important kind of learning that schools and colleges seek to foster. Measurement of student achievement in learning is necessary, if educational excellence is to be achieved. (Author/SJL)

Emphasizes the importance of information-based planning to maintain accountability in a time of declining enrollment. Defines planning levels and functions. Examines the types of studies institutions can undertake to support planning, providing examples from the research process at Moraine Valley Community Colleges, Illinois. Discusses the uses of…

Ohliger debates the issues raised by Smith (CE 511 136), taking the view that mandatory continuing education is an unacceptable method of ensuring professional quality because it is inherently contradictory to the definition of professionalism, and its effectiveness has not been demonstrated convincingly. (SK)

Presents an overview of ways in which urban school bureaucracies constrain and can impede educational change, and attempts to illuminate some principles for working effectively for change. (APM)

Conceptually, performance-based education shows promise of preserving quality, equal opportunity, and efficiency given the mandate for better utilization of resources in light of predicted declines in student populations and revenues. Requirements to implement a performance-based system and barriers that may impede its adoption or success are…

Seeks to identify trends in reading education, including preservice, in-service, and tertiary education. Discusses the Australian Reading Association's policy statement on teacher education. (FL)

Institutional advancement is a management process that requires coordination, not only of how resources are acquired but also how they are allocated, utilized, evaluated, and accounted for. The president cannot tolerate poor performance by any member of the development team. (MSE)

Discusses the need for educators to respond positively to changing enrollments and financial conditions by demonstrating fiscal responsibility, planning and developing relevant academic programs, and understanding the types of students being served. Attitudinal and managerial factors in the achievement of these goals are explored. (JP)

The decade of the 1970s saw the evolution of a regulatory society and a growth in the degree of external oversight of higher education by elected officials. Achieving balanced governance in the 1980s centers around a leadership role at the state higher education coordinating level. (MLW)

An ecological model of accountability is presented as an alternative to the traditional "means-ends" approach. The essential differences between the two models in the use of goals are discussed and implications are offered. (JMF)

A school and community must state their goals for students and then, avoiding the use of commerical tests, design a means of evaluation to determine if those goals have been met. (Author/JM)

The development of academic tenure in American higher education is reviewed, based on a study by the College and University Personnel Association. The role of academic tenure as a general concept in the development of the professoriate and in the shaping of major portions of educational policy and practice is explored. (MLW)

Financial pressures may force providers of inservice courses for teachers to evaluate their work. Systematic evaluation demands response to three levels of challenge: the challenge of professional relevance implicit in new styles; the conceptual and organizational challenge of course evaluation; and the challenge of the structure of providing…

The article is an analysis of recent readings on the accountability of classroom teachers. It characterizes, defines, and explains several types of accountability and notes a trend toward compromise within the accountability movement in the areas of blending human goals and behavioral science and redefining the teaching-learning act. (SB)

Drawing on a national survey by Barak and Berdahl, this article discusses the trend in many states toward official reviews of doctoral programs. The rationale behind these academic reviews, procedures used, results, and the benefits and problems of review programs are discussed. (SJL)