In the rapidly changing information environment, libraries have to demonstrate that their services have relevance, value, and impact for stakeholders and customers. To deliver effective and high quality services, libraries have to assess their performance from the customer point of view. Moving to an assessment framework will be more successful if…

This paper presents a comparative case study of diverse approaches to deinstitutionalization of developmental disabilities residential services in two Midwestern states. During the 1970s and 1980s, the convergence of leadership by advocates, legislators, and bureaucrats led to Michigan's rapid transformation from an institutional to a…

Increasing research findings are pointing out that using positive psychology and wellness strategies in counseling and therapy are helpful in fostering healthy human development (Snyder & Lopez, 2001). Positive psychology is addressing the importance of positive emotions, character traits, and features of enabling institutions such as the 'good…

No one graduating from school can any longer have the illusion to have completed her or his learning career, nor to live in a monocultural society. Quite on the contrary, learning will be the major business of the professional future of anyone who now leaves school. Moreover, the multicultural nature of current societies constitutes an additional…

The Equity Scorecard, a nationally recognized and widely used organizational learning process designed to foster institutional change through the identification and elimination of racial disparities among college students, is described in this chapter. The effectiveness of this process and its potential impact are also discussed.

Rockville Centre is a diverse, suburban school district serving approximately 3,500 students. Since 1981, the school has offered the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma. The IB diploma, which began in Rockville Centre as a gifted and talented program, is a comprehensive and challenging course of study in all subject areas. In this article,…

This practicum targeted a multi-service child and youth care agency in which lesbian women and gay men were implicitly excluded from serving as therapeutic foster parents. The setting in which the practicum project was developed, implemented, and evaluated is a not-for-profit, provincially chartered, and publicly-funded organization, headquartered…

Thirteen school districts, a regional training network, and a university in Florida formed a partnership to develop support for the implementation of the statewide plan, "Blueprint 2000." Funded by the Florida Department of Education, the partnership used a quality and systems framework for helping the schools and districts in their restructuring…

A fundamental challenge facing community college presidents and senior-level staff is to create an environment in which diverse qualities of students and staff make positive contributions to the organization. This requires replacing conceptions of leadership as one person at the top who has power with a vision of democratic leadership which…

Based on the assertion that community colleges are moving from the community-based paradigm of the past 30 years to a new paradigm combining the forces of learner- and community-based education, this book explores the role of leadership in changing the mission and culture of the colleges. Chapter 1 describes differences between the older top-down…

This paper presents a vision for a new unified arrangement for schools and teacher education programs in which pre-kindergarten through grade-12 schools and the professional development of teachers are intertwined to create learning communities. This vision's three basic and necessary characteristics are: (1) the direct participation of many more…

This paper sets out an agenda for higher education that will create a society in which lifetime learning is encouraged, valued, and rewarded. The paper presents five key issues that must be defined in order to achieve these goals: (1) the role of higher education; (2) the role of public policy; (3) how resources and intellectual property are to be…

This study examined major issues of restructuring and cost containment confronting graduate/research universities and the application of strategic planning to these issues. The study obtained data from a survey of administrators at 35 selected "Research I Universities" and site visits to six public and four independent universities at…

This book discusses seven of the many major issues that schools and school districts face in adopting school-based management (SBM). Chapter 1 presents the rationale for SBM, and chapter 2 describes governance issues. It concludes that SBM does not threaten school-board sovereignty if SBM is properly structured and if the board does its job…

As higher education rushes to embrace information technology, many vitally important instructional technology services are often left underfunded, directed by a paraprofessional, and operating at peripheral status outside academic affairs. Instructional technology should be understood not just in terms of computer hardware and software but in…