This article explores different viewpoints on special education reform, including conceptualizations of disability, the purpose of special education, beliefs about the expected outcomes of special education, and understanding of the current state of knowledge. How these different views can be bridged by focusing on early detection and prevention…

Reports on a five-year ethnographic, longitudinal study of a British higher education college during a process of change in quality assurance. Identifies tensions experienced during the process and stresses the influence of context, the unpredictability of change, and the lack of simple prescriptions for managing change projects. (DB)

In teacher-education programs, discussions of multiculturalism have been largely separate from those about inclusion of students with disabilities. Classrooms have always been heterogeneous. This article discusses strategies for ensuring inclusive curricula, pedagogy, and school organization and climate; revamping preparation and inservice…

Describes how several schools participated in a school improvement project that helped them learn from each other in a competitive climate, noting issues influencing teachers' readiness to collaborate. It proved important to identify issues engaging with fundamental aspects of teaching and learning that were powerful enough to involve other…

Colleges and universities have an organizational culture that values convention and continuity and is highly resistant to change. To manage change, governing boards must devise strategies that integrate academic values in ways that faculty recognize and support, and allow progress to occur in manageable pieces that serve as examples of…

Outlines ways to restructure programs in Catholic schools, discussing the seven "P's" that must be considered: pastors, principals, professionals, programs, parents, pupils, and parishes. Offers case study of a school in Texas that combined grade levels when enrollments dropped. Reports that achievement scores went up across the board as…

This article provides a rationale for changing the base upon which healthcare services for individuals with stroke and aphasia can be provided. It summarizes the interaction between the Aphasia Institute and the West Greater Toronto Stroke Network who worked together to effect meaningful change. A set of guidelines is provided. (Contains…

Describes how child care staff assisted one mother in working through separation difficulties with her 18-month-old. Focuses on staff understanding their own emotional response related to separation issues and working with the support of their director to build a positive relationship with the mother. Asserts that empathy is important to help…

The "Teaching/Learning Project" at Miami-Dade Community College (Florida), a process of dramatic institution-wide change, is described, focusing on the leadership, collaboration, and coordination required to bring about desired changes. Examination of leadership roles include those of the change agent (project director), champion…

Discusses the emphasis on promoting policy and practice changes based on research evidence in projects (funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation) related to housing, social policy, social care, youth, and families. Discusses the difficulties in using random control trials for assessing the effectiveness of interventions with individuals. Concludes…

Five reasons why U.S. colleges and universities attempting to internationalize the curriculum have major difficulties include: (1) competing purposes and directions that shift with the political and economic climate; (2) governmental constraints; (3) institutional structures that block change; (4) theoretical assumptions about curriculum that do…

Describes the creation and development of a Citizen Leadership Institute (CLI) and its corresponding Citizen Leadership Training Program (CLTP) by Gulf Coast Community College in an effort to foster systemic change in community problem-solving. States that solutions found by CLI may contain responses to similar problems faced by sister…

Reviews an important period in teacher education's history sponsored by the American Council on Education's Commission on Teacher Education (1939-42), highlighting lessons learned about reform, which confirm the value of recent work in teacher education that maximizes participation, builds school-university partnerships, and forms student cohorts…

Explains the main factors affecting implementation of curriculum innovations, including those related to teachers, innovations, and change agents. Introduces Hong Kong's Target- Oriented Curriculum initiative, a constructivist, active-learning framework, and shows how these factors enhanced or hindered program implementation. Teacher attitudes…

Considers various theoretical and practical issues in language teaching that could help bridge the current methodological divide and proposes several reforms to the way that languages are currently taught in secondary schools and higher education. The paper emphasizes contemporary approaches to grammar, use of the first and second language in the…