Focused conversation is a method of collecting observations, emotions, interpretations, and decisions from groups that have shared a significant experience. This article reports how the author used focused conversation to discuss the events of September 11 with students in three sections of a master's-level organizational change class in the week…

Shortly after becoming a CIO (Chief Information Officer), the author read an article by Gregory Jackson in the January 2004 Chronicle of Higher Education entitled, "A CIO's Question: Will You Still Need Me When I'm 64?" Jackson, one of the most widely known and respected CIOs in higher education, argued that CIOs in higher education face four…

Objective: This study examines the effects of the Availability, Responsiveness, and Continuity (ARC) organizational intervention strategy on caseworker turnover, climate, and culture in a child welfare and juvenile justice system. Method: Using a pre-post, randomized blocks, true experimental design, 10 urban and 16 rural case management teams…

The advances in Information Technology (IT) are resulting in greater uncertainty in business and in education not only in the development of a physical infrastructure but in the way people work and communicate. With this, it is proposed that the IT Coordinator in education is in a unique position to facilitate a more informed implementation and…

This qualitative study examined the nature of work for 70 administrators (67% female, 33% male) who provide services to students at historically Black colleges and universities. Data were collected by administering the "National Professional Life Survey (NPLS)" that asked respondents about their work, relationships with others on campus, and the…

Quality is fast becoming a policy priority in states and localities around the country. As a result, formal and informal networks of youth organizations are seeking and developing strategies to help them assess and improve performance. This report takes a close look at efforts underway in three networks and provides a preliminary framework for…

The universe of postsecondary education is expanding. It is an era of rapid demographic and labor market changes, increased competition and shifts in institutional form (e.g., the rise of for profit degree granters, the hybrid form of nonprofit/for profit partnerships, corporate universities), and new forms of delivery driven by emerging…

The Committee on Retirement of the American Association of University Professors initiated its first retirement policies survey in 2000 to address a lack of reliable and systematically collected information on retirement policies and practices across U.S. institutions of higher education. At the end of the 1990s, there was a sense that…

We present a three-dimensional cube framework to help community organizational researchers and administrators think about an organization's learning and empowerment-related structures and processes in terms of first-order (incremental or ameliorative) and second-order (transformative) change at the individual, organizational, and community levels.…

One Educational Leadership preparation program in a rather unexpected location, the Mississippi Delta region, has received national recognition from the Educational Leadership Constituent Council, been asked to use its program report on the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) website as a national example of excellence,…

This case study is presented for use with graduate students in educational administration. The intent is to further those students' preparation to deal with cultural and organizational change, along with the examination of the role of the administrative team as instructional leaders. One of the primary roles of the building principal is to be the…

High schools today face problems of culturally diverse student populations, diversity of student learning styles, and a growing public perception that high schools do not adequately prepare their graduates for either work or college. This paper offers an extensive review of literature on block scheduling as well as a handbook for gaining support…

The establishment, design, and location of American higher education institutions correlate directly with the evolution of American thinking regarding the nature of democracy, the knowledge required by the citizenry for full participation in democracy and the "American Dream," and the progression of the American economy from an agrarian to an…

Although much has been written to describe the changing role of teachers in the professional-development school, little is known about the role of the principal in bringing about educational change. This paper describes the role of the principal and the issues involved in implementing change in Texas Professional-Development Schools (PDSs). The…

The hierarchical organizational structures that exist at community colleges and other institutions of higher education reflect the Late Industrial Era; as organizations make the transition to the Early Information Era, however, these rigid structures can hinder institutions' efforts to effectively utilize information and respond to changing…