This article describes a pilot study in which a prototype instrument is presented as a first step toward a reliable and valid tool that facilitates both the establishment of a visioning strategy and evaluation of the effectiveness of visioning strategies, existing or new. A brief historical perspective precedes an examination of the actual steps…

This paper chronicles the process undertaken by one community college to analyze its Developmental Studies Program. A participant/observer faculty member involved in the college's assessment activities contemplated the institution's complex past, the challenging present, and the unfolding future. An interesting account explicating committee…

Purpose: With significant change as an ongoing challenge, the development and use of a flexible change curriculum is identified as a success factor that will allow an organization to optimize the outcome from change transformations. Design/methodology/approach: After discussing significant change, this paper will contrast two organizations in…

If technology can affect student learning, shouldn't it be considered in making decisions? Data-driven decision making models include data from curriculum, instruction, test scores, lunch programs, budgets, and transportation. None of the current models include anything about technology. The challenge with any type of data-driven decision making…

This article provides the basic elements for constructing a comprehensive enrollment management plan. While enrollment professionals develop and implement plans, it is important to recognize that the campus climate and institutional leadership impact the enrollment plan's development and implementation. This article will focus on three components…

Most publications on outcomes assessment take a holistic approach: they focus more on the whole of assessment than on its components. They describe entire academic assessment programs and their cumulative impact on institutional effectiveness. Some evaluation articles characterize assessment components such as instruments, findings, and use of…

Judging by their literacy proficiency scores, Nordic countries stand out from others. Their consistently high scores are intriguing and make their populations interesting benchmarks for other countries that participated in the International Adult Literacy Survey. This article addresses the question of whether there are any specific…

Quality academic advising in higher education is the product of a multitude of elements not the least of which is institutional vision. By recognizing and embracing an institution's concept of its capabilities and the kinds of educated human beings it is attempting to cultivate, advisors gain an invaluable apparatus to guide the provision of…

Using the diary of Kim Stasny, superintendent of the Bay St. Louis-Waveland School District in Mississippi, and accounts from other superintendents from areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, the author describes the grim situation faced by schools in the days and weeks after the storm struck. He then discusses the importance of getting students…

This article discusses the benefits of professional portfolios for educational diagnosticians throughout their careers as a means of documenting proficiency and experience in communication, assessment, time management, organization, community resources, and educational planning. Various purposes of the portfolio are considered; for gaining…

This study examines how communities participate in schools across diverse contexts in developing countries and the results attributed to community participation. It reviews evaluations of participatory approaches to education in developing countries to answer two basic questions: 1) How do communities participate in school in developing countries?…

College and career readiness has become a unifying principle for education reform leaders across the country. A majority of states have made it a top policy priority, with an increasing number of national foundations and education reform advocates supporting this work. To help state leaders build strategies for sustaining their education agendas…

The Safe Schools Reporting Act of 2005 requires that county boards of education and the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners report incidents of harassment or intimidation against students in public schools under the county board's and commission's jurisdiction. The reporting period for the third report encompasses the 2006-2007 school…

The middle grades are a time of change for adolescent learners. Middle schoolers are in the process of refining their social skills and their self-concept. They begin taking responsibility for their education and making decisions about their own learning. They start planning for college and careers, understanding for the first time how their…

The study presented in this article focuses on strategic planning in developing countries, drawing on the author's experiences in a dozen developing countries in Asia and Africa and focus groups in three of those countries: Afghanistan, Madagascar, and South Africa. It looks at the special challenges faced by planners in developing countries and…