This monograph discusses how to bring about changes and reforms in the area of human services. The introduction defines human services and briefly discusses some reform movements and whether or not viable change methods are available. Section I discusses the roles of various change participants including the change agent, lobbyist, ombudsman,…

Forum, published twice yearly, is one of a group of educational publications and teaching units provided for consumer educators as a public service by J.C. Penney Company and obtainable from a local store manager or J. C. Penney, 1301 Avenue of the Americas, N.Y. 10019. Since many people function as change agents, this issue was developed to bring…

Social change goals and objectives may be achieved by social change advocates through the policy development process. Policy is defined as a set of decisions governing the behavior and actions of institutions and individuals. The legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government comprise the major policy institutions. The bureaucracy of…

Urban school districts must initiate effective support systems to enable their human resources to respond quickly and adequately to the social and educational changes occurring in cities. This paper presents a staff development model, the components of which are planning, delivery, and needs assessment. The author stresses the need for an…

Because of the decline of farm population and family farms, the increase in energy-intensivity, and concentration process in agriculture, a rising tide of criticism has focused on the land grant system and its role in encouraging scientific applications supporting these trends. A study was conducted to develop a strategy that would change…

A summary of studies on sexism in books leads to the conclusion that nonsexist books should be included in the elementary curriculum so that children can be exposed to a variety of lifestyles and career options. Various checklists and guidelines for evaluating the sex fairness of reading materials are available. Activities that can be used to…

During the past two decades federal, state, and local school leaders have attempted to institute major changes in educational programs and organizational arrangements. Recent assessment studies reveal that the great majority of change efforts did not meet intended objectives. As a result, policy formulators have developed serious reservations…

The Pennsylvania School Improvement Program (PSIP) was created to assist local schools and school districts in the development of curriculum improvement strategies. The process involves the use of "linkers," curriculum specialists who work with teams from the local level to ascertain needs, then connect the local teams with the research…

This module is one in a series of six designed to help vocational educators develop skills needed to make use of the Vocational Technical Education Consortium of States materials and to develop and manage individualized instructional programs. Recommended for use by both pre- and inservice teachers and curriculum development specialist interns,…

Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) is predicated on a theory of causality. According to Ellis (1962), beliefs regarding an event, and not the event itself, cause emotional reactions. Mentally healthy persons practice this reational theory of causality. Neurotic persons accept an irrational theory of causality based on coincidental or correlational…

An assessment was made of the degree to which a consistent, integrated, and coordinated effort is being made to provide vocational education services in Iowa. To assess the extent of cooperative relationships between selected human service agencies, five field visits were made to meet with representatives of local agencies and service centers…

Test anxiety is a variable cognitive, affective, or physiological response, or any combination thereof, occurring during evaluative, self-report examinations. Research suggests that the cognitive, affective, and physiological components of test anxiety are interrelated and that these components in addition to global test anxiety, are negatively…

From a psychological perspective, this paper explores the effects of staff reduction, resulting from declining enrollment, on elementary and secondary teachers in Ontario. The authors state that fear of future unemployment has contributed to the stressful nature of teaching and is likely to retard the efficiency of even those teachers who retain…

While enrollment is declining in Ontario's elementary and secondary schools, the demands for adult education are increasing. This paper explores the possibility of integrating the two systems. The authors consider the conceptual bases for an integrated system as well as the effects of integration on administration, staff selection and training,…

These proceedings of a pre-conference workshop on the quality of family life in the military begin with an overview and the texts of the introduction to the workshop. Three presentations providing an orientation to military family programs and policies are included. Enrichment and support needs of military families and research needs of military…