Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to measure the effectiveness and practical utility of an organizational learning intervention for an organization that was not progressive, was not specifically chartered as a learning organization, and was situated in an urban, culturally diverse, and under-privileged community. Design/methodology/approach:…

This paper describes the process through which a troubled junior high school transformed itself into a model middle school. Teachers and administrators used the organizational mapping strategy (Shapiro 1991) to examine and reconstruct their beliefs, perceptions, and organizational traditions. The organizational-mapping strategy generates a…

Scarce resources, changing customer expectation, and the changing role of top management are all factors that have contributed to the implementation of total quality management (TQM) in libraries. Instructional articles, conferences, and videos can alleviate some concerns of cost and time commitment. Many libraries already practice some of the…

The school-review process in New South Wales (Australia) serves an accountability function to inform communities and the New South Wales Department of School Education about the success of school programs and to support schools in their efforts to improve student learning. This paper focuses on the school-development function of reviews. In…

Any type of organization can be a learning organization (LO) if it possesses certain characteristics: provide continuous learning opportunities, use learning to reach its goals, link individual performance with organizational performance, foster inquiry and dialogue, embrace creative tension as a source of energy and renewal, and be continuously…

Quality improvement, or Total Quality Management (TQM), has been used for years in the corporate world to help companies achieve better customer satisfaction, increase market share, and improve profitability. More recently, TQM has emerged as a promising strategy for school improvement and educational reform. In 1991, the school district of…

The third generation of educational research and policy analysis gives consideration to the nature of the policy instrument and the design and organizational context through which reform ideas and policy goals are translated into results. This paper presents findings of a study that examined the use of systems change as a policy instrument. It…

Despite ethical directives, most consultants do not understand fully how issues such as race, ethnicity, class, and gender impact organizational functioning. This paper presents a model of organizational culture that includes race and multicultural concerns. The cultural synergy model is based on the assumption that organizations have multiple…

This volume summarizes current policies and programmatic practices that are influencing the quality of life of persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. Part 1, "Service Delivery Application," contains: "Using Person-Centered Planning To Address Personal Quality of Life" (John Butterworth and others); "The Aftermath of…

Some evidence from the school-restructuring literature indicates that traditional school leadership behaviors and school-based management (SBM) are incongruent. Collaborative relationships between teachers and school leaders are problematic when teachers' duties and performance appraisals are hierarchically decided by school leaders. This paper…

This guidebook is designed to help educational leaders in the transformation necessary to restructure and empower schools. Chapter 1 outlines major structural problems of the current educational system. Chapter 2 explains specific management techniques for restructuring a school system, from the level of the school building to the level of the…

Under requirements of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) of 1990, the state was forced to redesign its department of education. This document describes the process by which a new department of education was created. After the introduction and executive summary, sections provide information on the following activities: the legal action…

This publication examines the situations in which school-based management has worked and, conversely, those in which it failed to meet expectations. It attempts to identify exactly what school-based management (SBM) is and what it is not. Information was obtained from interviews with researchers and practitioners, a review of literature, and a…

An indepth analysis of critical issues in school restructuring is provided in this first of a series of reports. The first article, by Karen Prager describes selected aspects of school restructuring in a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, elementary school and illustrates how school-based management can articulate school vision and support teacher cooperation.…

In the context of today's changing work world, analysis of training needs also must change. This book, designed for people in both industry and education who are directly or indirectly involved in helping people to learn in the workplace, encourages people to look beyond the common checklist approach to training needs analysis, which assumes that…