Despite the nationwide emphasis on school improvement, the complexities of accomplishing desired systemic changes have been given short shrift in policy, research, training, and practice. This article focuses on the problem of expanding school improvement planning to better address how schools and districts intend to accomplish designated changes.…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) renewed the commitment to provide positive behavioral support (PBS) for students that engage in persistent problem behavior. Behavior intervention plans (also known as PBS plans) serve as legal documents that help guide the implementation of intervention strategies to encourage…

Too often the principal is left without the benefit of a plan or the awareness of how to deal with the problems that inevitably arise when opening a new school. The school facility is an instructional tool and as such, it may either enhance or detract from the educational program. The success or failure of how a new school opens or is perceived to…

This annual report provides a summary of program planning and review activities conducted by the Commission during the 2007-08 academic year. Recommendations that will enable the Commission to better meet and respond to its statewide statutes and obligations regarding academic and vocational program review include: (1) The Program Review Advisory…

For governments around the world, conceptualizing early childhood education and care as a site for an early start on educational, social, and economic investments has become a dominant trend of educational planning. Educational policies, both locally and globally, reflect the effects of a neoliberal political economic reasoning system. Voucher…

In a number of European countries, the recognition of the university's key role in the evolution of the knowledge society--and in the identification and solving of political, socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural problems--has led to radical reforms of higher education systems. Denmark has implemented the most radical reforms of the region in…

This study analyzes the social and historical reasons for higher education reforms in Central and East European universities after the collapse of communist regimes, in order to answer the central question of this study: To what extent were the national features eliminated in Central and Eastern Europe by the implementation of the 3-5-8 model and…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relative impact of different types of leadership on students' academic and nonacademic outcomes. Research Design: The methodology involved an analysis of findings from 27 published studies of the relationship between leadership and student outcomes. The first meta-analysis, including 22 of the…

In 2000, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) launched the programme "Learning Regions--Providing Support for Networks'" in cooperation with the Lander. It was co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF). Some 90 regions were selected and financially supported. After one year, 71 regions continued to build-up…

This research is a retrospective case study designed to document and analyze the process of decision-making by educational leaders and stakeholders at a four-year university. For this study, educational leaders and key stakeholders agreed to extensive interviews about the decisions made during the design, construction, and post-occupancy phases of…

The New Mexico Public Schools Facilities Authority (NM-PSFA) is a relatively small state agency (50 staff members) that manages the allocation of funding for public school facilities in the state while assisting school districts and state-chartered charter schools in facility planning, construction, and maintenance. Like the majority of other…

Each year, Austin Independent School District Department of Research and Evaluation (DRE) staff develop a plan of work to describe the scope of work for the coming year. The plans that make up this document identify programs to be evaluated and services to be provided by DRE staff and provide the blueprints for evaluation that staff will follow…

Cross-national data from the Latin American nations are brought to bear on questions concerning in what kinds of political and economic environments are highly elaborated national planning systems likely to be found and what the observable effects might be, over time, of a highly elaborated national planning system. (Author)

Author reflected on Douglas Windham's article on macro-planning, what it is and how it can be identified and what is needed before any sound and sure judgment of the efficacy of educational planning can be reached. (Author/RK)