This popular book captures the essence and spirit of three creative and exciting tools used by many schools and organizations who want to build innovative and quality education or human service systems that truly meet the needs of the people being served. The book gives a glimpse of the 3 tools: Circles, Maps and PATH, and outlines the key points…

As we mark the publication of the 35th issue of the British Journal of Special Education, Peter Mittler, Emeritus Professor of Special Needs Education at the University of Manchester, looks into the future and asks a series of challenging questions: What kind of a future do we want to see for a baby born with a significant disability today? What…

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is committed to bringing together museums and libraries across the country for conversations dedicated to developing a better understanding of the roles of libraries and museums as providers of public service to communities. The Future of Libraries and Museums in the 21st Century Planning…

The counterintuitive approach of the world's greatest value investor, Warren Buffett, may be the best hope for colleges and universities during this recession. Buffett's time-tested philosophy of seeking value and investing for the long term remains a sound approach, even if his short-term returns have declined along with those of the rest of the…

The stunning rate of change in modern society will make today's education obsolete tomorrow. Limiting educational planning to short-range objectives is no longer sufficient. To be effective, education must be committed to achieving goals and objectives reflective of the desires of the community and of school district personnel. The eight…

Outlines an approach for preparing and using futures scenarios that has been successful in the formulation of long-range plans and policies. How to construct a scenario and how to draw implications from the scenarios are discussed. (AM)

Reports the development by the Public Library Association of a planning manual, "A Planning Process for Public Libraries." The manual outlines an efficient seven-step planning process that will enable planning committees to avoid time-consuming procedural investigations and concentrate on critical analysis and recommendations for change.…

The diverse planning approaches used by the five institutions of higher education described in the previous five articles (HE 527 556-560) discuss the role of differences in institutional cultures and issues. Such differences must be taken into account in the design of the planning process, implementing plans, and evaluating benefits. (DB)

This second article in a three-part series on strategic planning offers insight on the planning process itself. Discusses identifying long-term and short-term missions, and developing the strategic plan. (DGM)

Discusses the need for long-range strategic planning in libraries and related organizations and examines plans included in their Web sites, including the Library of Congress; ALA (American Library Association); OCLC (Online Computer Library Center); CARL (Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries); and planning for a digital library with the New…

Discusses educational changes from a system perspective. Sets forth a series of assertions based on eight years of experience with special-education reform initiatives in Iowa. Presents generalizations from an experiential base regarding critical components and characteristics of change process. Gives specific recommendations for persons…

In this article, the author talks about leadership succession. Leadership succession planning rests on the supposition that transitions work best when they are approached intentionally. A leadership succession plan is a deliberate and systematic effort by one's organization to ensure leadership continuity in the directorship and other key…

As our understanding of disaster shifts from an event concentrated in time and space to a social occasion occurring across time and space, so too must our explanations of disaster shift from theories of the middle range to broader theoretical frameworks. We explore the world-system approach in an effort to understand the upper limits of theory for…

2010 marks the 50th anniversary of California's famed Master Plan for Higher Education, arguably the single most influential effort to plan the future of a system of higher education in the annals of American higher education. This essay builds on the analysis offered in a previous CSHE research paper ("From Chaos to Order and Back") by…

Successful school district management, this book says, depends on including needs assessment in the planning process. Part 1 discusses the advantages of using needs assessment in management. Relevant terms are discussed in part 2, while part 3 examines specific steps towards utilizing a needs assessment process. Part 4 discusses the six steps to…