To meet accountability challenges from a customer-satisfaction perspective, an urban institution of higher education has developed an integrated approach to studying the freshman year experience in order to develop comprehensive outcomes measures for assessing freshman success. Multiple sources of data (freshman satisfaction survey data,…

This paper develops further the ideas contained in two earlier reports, Effective Secondary Schools (1988) and Effective Primary Schools (1989), and recommends a systematic approach to the management of school effectiveness through using a school development plan. The purpose of the paper is twofold: to present and explain the role of the school…

This paper argues that the rapid influx of information technology into society requires a change in university administration from the current political system to a computer based management system for higher productivity. The paper describes the dysfunctional nature of the political system of management in its lack of full accountability. The…

This paper draws on the experience of various states in its discussion of questions, issues, and decisions that policymakers face as they plan their states' family support initiatives. The discussion is organized into three parts that correspond roughly with the stages of policy formation, program development, and program implementation and…

In its enabling legislation, the Alaska Joint Committee on School Performance was instructed to identify and recommend those subjects for priority legislative attention that might lead to improved school performance. The Committee's study found that inadequate school performance can be attributed to the following needs: (1) stricter school…

This paper examines the issues arising when a set of federally funded model demonstration projects, the secondary curricula/student transition projects of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, were obligated by federal initiative to improve the amount, quality, and use of evaluation. These issues included: (1) the nature of…

Accountability has always been a basic concept in public education, although ideas about how to accomplish it have changed over the years. Problems in urban schools have given rise to the hope that carefully created systems of accountability might spur school improvement and school restructuring. Devising a system of genuine accountability in a…

Some important conclusions and recommendations may be drawn from comparing U.S. Army leadership processes to the state-of-the-art in educational administration: (1) army leadership development works in the ways intended; (2) leadership must be learned, not taught; and (3) everybody involved must truly participate. Site-based management makes no…

Research on the effects of collective bargaining by library clerical workers indicates that effects are often less dramatic than expected, and that there does not appear to be a single "union effect." Although one study found hefty gains for library workers with collective bargaining agreements, other studies have found no significant gains by the…

Colorado's Public School Finance Act of 1988 directed all public school districts to implement state goals for improving achievement, graduation, and attendance rates. Districts and individual schools were required to develop accountability committees involving parents, staff, students, and community members in planning and evaluating school and…

Conditions and management procedures used in Dutch universities are discussed. Attention is directed to: (1) the structure of higher education in the Netherlands -- especially the University of Utrecht, its administrative procedures, and decision-making process; (2) the nature of the problems the university faced and the ineffective way in which…

Conditions leading to the loss of accreditation by Parsons College and ethical questions raised by the closing of the college are considered. Practices at the college that were undertaken under the Parsons Plan during 1955-1967 increased enrollment from 200 to over 5,000 students in 11 years. These practices included: open-door admission for…

This report summarizes a state senate committee's assessment of school performance in Alaska and its conclusions and recommendations to the legislature. Chapter 1 describes Alaska's school districts, school enrollment, and educational expenditures. Chapter 2 discusses school reform in America in 1983-87, Alaska's comparative lack of reform…

The 1988 report by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) entitled "Goals for Education: Challenge 2000" reflects concerns of government and educational leaders in the 15 states of the SREB area (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee,…

The report to Congress on the management of the Federal Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS) explains findings grouped into five major areas: (1) goal setting, (2) performance management, (3) human resources management, (4) grants management, and (5) federal/state relationships. Questionnaires concerning the management…