Rather than burdening administrators, educators are discovering that a well-designed evaluation system can effectively merge professional development with quality assurance in teacher evaluation. New participatory evaluation approaches include differentiated systems, multiyear cycles, and active teacher roles (via portfolios, professional…

Many new, enthusiastic superintendents with backgrounds in business, law, and the military apply a service mentality and a results orientation. Profiles of Alan Bersin, John Stanford, Harold Levy, John Fryer, Brian Benzel, and Paul Vallas illustrate nontraditional leaders' challenges and accomplishments in the nation's largest school districts.…

Provides an overview of developments in higher education internationalization, from traditional forms such as student/staff mobility to exporting via branch campuses, transnational university networks, and virtual delivery. Discusses quality challenges, particularly recognition of foreign degrees and credits. Suggests the solution is integration…

The British experience with nationwide research quality assessment exercises and newly-introduced measures to improve research program accountability is described. Consequences for institutions of higher education and for the system as a whole are examined, using the University of Glasgow (Scotland) as an example. Utility of performance indicators…

A framework for improving student and course evaluation in higher education is presented. The framework is based on a simple quality control model. Suggestions for support mechanisms and resources for improving practice are also offered. (MSE)

A follow-up to a 1980 study investigated field instruction needs and research priorities in social work education, as perceived by 12 national experts. Participants saw the Delphi technique as useful in reaching consensus. Research priorities include empirical analysis of field experience outcomes, quality assurance, and processes to help field…

The impetus and focus of quality improvement efforts in higher education are examined, and a corporate grant program supporting the use of total quality management strategies in optometric education is described. Subsequent articles on grant-supported projects are previewed. (MSE)

Parks and recreation professionals must recognize potential hazards in playground design, installation, and maintenance. Current safety risks are from older equipment that does not comply with modern standards and has not been safety inspected. The National Playground Safety Institute's certification program is an important step toward reliable…

An annotated bibliography on quality assurance in higher education around the world includes 35 books and World Wide Web sites, noting content, extent of information available, and in some cases background information. (MSE)

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)

This collection of seven articles examines the issue of playground safety, focusing on recent trends and mandates in playground safety; treated wood on playgrounds; safe playgrounds for infants and toddlers; achieving a safe ratio of adults to children; soft contained playgrounds; certified playground-safety inspectors; and playground injuries in…

Review of 205 continuing medical education (CME) websites found the following: most university sites offered only class schedules; far more commercial sites than university sites offered online CME content; 60-80% of content met quality control standards; only 10% of sites provided information on peer review of content. (SK)

A microarray experiment is presented that, in six laboratory sessions, takes undergraduate students from the tissue sample right through to data analysis. The model chosen, the murine erythroleukemia cell line, can be easily cultured in sufficient quantities for class use. Large changes in gene expression can be induced in these cells by…

Demonstration programs and social experiments are often subject to sophisticated, controlled evaluations. An important factor that is not subject to control, and sometimes even goes unobserved, is overall program site quality. Site quality can be observed in process evaluations, but these tend to be expensive. This paper describes an alternative…

A model of production and exchange is proposed as an alternative to both market-oriented policy and social welfare policy. New patterns of social coordination at work form the basis for a new form of production output value: conducive value. This value is developed in both workers and consumers, activates skills and capabilities, and transforms…