This guide describes a collaborative approach to high quality and relevant evaluation of a workplace basic skills program that can be carried out as part of normal program operations. It is designed for use by educators, union representatives, managers, supervisors, participating employees, and funders. The guide is organized into five phases. In…

A study of the need for inservice education and training among the staff of the Namibian extension service revealed that the service has approximately 100 field staff who have very different and often patchy preservice training but who have acquired considerable experience. Workshops with extension staff members were then held to identify their…

Limited research has been conducted on the direct and indirect impact of union-management cooperation (UMC) programs on worker autonomy, work group effectiveness, and worker satisfaction. For this study, a research questionnaire designed to explore these relationships was mailed to four Ohio unions and was returned by 339 members. Workers at…

Participation in a Title III consortium grant has brought about many changes at Cochise College in Arizona, and has helped create an institutional culture that embraces change and supports faculty and staff efforts to improve the institution. In December, 1993, a Planning Task Force (PTF) was established, composed of 23 members, about one-half of…

This book contains information targeted at executives, line managers, and human resource executives responsible for bringing the team vision to their organizations. A prologue defines teams and shows how they are developed. Part I (chapters 1-4) has the following purposes: introduces the team empowerment continuum, shows how a reshuffling of…

This brochure presents an introduction to the Choices for the 21st Century Education Project. The project seeks to promote discussion of current issues in the high school classroom. Of particular focus are topics pertaining to international relations. Central to the Choices approach are analyzing issues, articulating viewpoints, respecting the…

In February 1992, a Commission on Quantum Quality was formed. It recommended that Maricopa Community College District (MCCD), in Arizona, launch a quality initiative which involved the implementation of continuous quality improvement (CQI) and, based on John Carver's philosophy and model for reinventing boards of governors, the active involvement…

Collaboration can improve the quality of services provided to rural students with low-incidence disabilities such as autism. When there are few of these children scattered over a wide geographic area, they cannot be clustered for services. Other rural problems include inadequate funding, lack of qualified staff, need for staff training, inadequate…

This paper describes the implementation of a reform program in a middle school located in a relatively large school district in southeastern Michigan. First, an integrative theory is presented as a promising framework for reforming middle-grade schools. The theory was developed within a social-cognitive framework that emphasizes the importance of…

This paper introduces a document that presents a set of indicators that the Council for Exceptional Children's Division for Early Childhood recommends for early intervention and early childhood special education (EI/ECSE) programs for infants and young children with special needs and their families. The indicators selected are research-based or…

Telling teachers what to do through state and district standard-setting policies is seen as antithetical to empowered teachers and a strengthened teaching profession. Policies for empowering teachers are less well articulated; teacher autonomy is often thought to be the automatic product of an absence of external constraints and guidelines. An…

This paper examines effects of combining long-range planning and computer-based modeling in institutions of higher education, with examples from application at Butler University (Indiana). The model was developed due to a need to obtain a 5-year forecast of revenues and expenditures and consists of eight dynamic submodels--one for each of the five…

This report reviews the implementation of Project Creating a New Approach to Learning (CANAL), part of a court-mandated desegregation plan in Chicago (Illinois), at the end of its first two years. CANAL's goal was to train the constituent representatives of the public schools to engage in shared decision-making and to develop organizational…

A sequentially planned program using quality circle techniques was adapted for the educational environment and Implemented in an elementary school in central Florida. The program consisted of 10 sessions designed to acquaint team leaders and administrators with the quality circle techniques and, under the direction of a trained facilitator, to…

Ways in which a high school principal implemented a shared decision-making structure into his school are described in this case study. Two research questions are explored: the identification of the principal's school improvement agenda; and how he improved his school. Methodology involved interviews with the principal and teachers, as well as…