Underlying barriers to adjunct faculty forming effective communities are time and distance; they spend little time on campus, and there is distance, physically and psychologically, from their peers. There can be no hope of challenging and changing the system without the organizing and focusing of energies. Lessons can be learned from big business.…

This book of nine essays was written to honor Frank H. T. Rhodes, President Emeritus of Cornell University (New York) and addresses ways in which research universities can respond to current challenges. An introductory chapter, "The American University: Dilemmas and Directions" (Ronald G. Ehrenberg), identifies key issues raised in the following…

This booklet reports on the philosophy and demands of the growing international movement for inclusive schools which welcome all children, including those with disabilities or those who have learning difficulties. It maintains that inclusion is not primarily an educational or professional issue but, rather, an issue of basic human rights. It sees…

The book "Bilingual Education in Massachusetts: The Emperor Has No Clothes" is summarized. The summary outlines the demographic situation of the limited-English-proficient (LEP) population and the status of bilingual education in the state, within the context of existing legislation. Issues in the debate over availability and type of…

In North Carolina, legislation giving health insurance to children of modest-income working families was won because a broad coalition of over 100 organizations got the attention of lawmakers. Because all children benefitted, rural children benefited, but a few groups pushing for health insurance for just rural children would not have gotten their…

This paper helps community partners envision a system of community schools and understand the changes needed to make it a reality. Information in the paper is adapted from a study by the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago and the Center for Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington. The study…

This paper discusses three schools that have started a program designed to include at-risk students in gifted and talented programming by promoting systemic changes in student identification for gifted and talented classes and differentiated instruction in the regular classroom setting. The study conducted teaching observations and analyzed…

In 1996, Kansas launched the nation's most sweeping attempt to radically transform the child welfare system by implementing a privatized form of managed care. Four years later, the child welfare system shows signs of instability and seems very much in transition. This report examines the current status of the child welfare system in Kansas and…

Noting that girls' lack of access to education is related to a number of economic, social, religious, and cultural factors as well as a scarcity of places in schools and that promoting gender equity in school may help equity spread throughout the entire community, this report illustrates the gender equity approach used in the Save the Children's…

Inappropriate social skills exhibited early in elementary school can interfere with cooperative group work, completion of academic tasks on time, and academic growth. This action research project evaluated the impact of a program for improving social behavior in a cooperative group setting to reduce inappropriate interactions and increase positive…

This study examined teachers' perceptions of changes in student learning and changes in their teaching strategies after implementing the Partners Advancing the Learning of Math and Science (PALMS) approach in an urban Massachusetts school district. PALMS was a cooperative statewide systemic initiative funded by the Massachusetts Department of…

This symposium on organizational change consists of three presentations. "Institutionalizing Organizational Change Through Cascade Training: Implications for Human Resource Development (HRD) Research" (Ronald L. Jacobs, Darlene Russ-Eft, Suhail Zidan) proposes the institutionalization of change should be addressed as a major part of the…

This study aimed to describe, compare, and analyze the use of specific types of data utilized in decision-making by administrators of more and less effective community colleges. The study utilized a modified version of Kim Cameron's "Assessment of Organizational Effectiveness on Higher Education" to measure and rank community college…

This report reviews efforts to reform urban schools, focusing on initiatives in Tennessee and California as examples from which distric leaders may draw useful lessons. The report suggests that comprehensive school reform (CSR) offers promise to struggling urban schools by focusing on transforming the academic climate, school culture, and…

While children are ready for school by virtue of having attained the chronological age for school entry established by the state, school readiness refers to the conditions that promote their readiness to succeed in school. Wisconsin is one of 17 states participating in the National School Readiness Indicators Initiative, the aim of which is to…