Explains the rationale for and operation of the four basic middle school organizational components (i.e., interdisciplinary team organization, flexible scheduling, exploratory courses, and advisor-advisee programs), and their implications for Catholic education. (DMM)

Increasingly, educators are calling for resource-based learning at the core of college instruction. To support resource-based learning, college faculty and administrative leaders must model an integrative approach to learning. Information literacy and availability of information technology must be accompanied by a campus culture that encourages…

Bennington College (Vermont) president Elizabeth Coleman is pursuing a controversial plan to transform the institution, financially and intellectually. Debate centers on whether her plan is truly innovative and will return the college to a former vitality or constitutes a hasty housecleaning. Faculty dismissals are under investigation. (MSE)

Changing times, public attitudes, and political strategies have shifted the approach to leadership in higher education from an academic to a business perspective. Colleges and universities are being asked to restructure, reinvent themselves, and rightsize, but none of these will work unless more attention is paid to the problem of revenue. (MSE)

Maricopa Community College District (Arizona) connects multiple facilities with a digital voice, data, and video wide area network. The network has been achieved through a conscious strategy of managing change and leveraging vendor partnerships. Organizational structure has also evolved, creating new job functions and need for retraining and staff…

A study of five Australian universities' practices regarding students with disabilities, particularly in social work departments, found major resource problems in meeting needs, exacerbated by bureaucracy, politics, and limited willingness to plan effective recruitment and support for these students. Greatest progress occurs with sustained student…

This response to Maag and Howell (EC 602 677) suggests that their perspective is oversimplistic and naive about (1) organizational structures and processes relating to inclusion of students with social maladjustment in special education, and (2) the problem of change in school organization. (DB)

Administrators must abandon transactional (control-oriented) and instructional leadership modes and use facilitative power to make second-order changes in their schools. Transformational leadership provides the proper focus by helping staff members develop and maintain a collaborative, professional school culture; fostering teacher development;…

Oregon State University and Southern Oregon State College have responded to state budget cuts with fundamental changes in academic programs and departments. Reductions are being made according to state guidelines for eliminating programs, rather than skimming broadly. Faculty are angered about personal and scholarly losses. (MSE)

During a time of administrative reorganization at the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), the efforts of a team preparing to implement the Total Quality Management approach were suspended. Problems encountered included flaws in organizational structure, insufficient communication, hidden agendas, deteriorating relationships, limited…

Effectiveness of a training model in a leadership training program for Head Start personnel was assessed quantitatively and qualitatively for 31 participants. Results demonstrate positive effects on perceived competence, the quality of teaching practices, and the organizational climate of Head Start centers. Case studies further support these…

Reports on a survey of university libraries that gathered data on the effects of replacing an existing automated system with a new one, i.e., NOTIS. General library automation and management statistics are reported, changes in staffing patterns and personnel are described, changes in organizational structure are discussed, and training needs are…

Offers a case study of organizational change, tracing a two-year college's history and current emphasis on continuing education, community service, business and industry contract training, and a vocationally oriented curriculum. Considers the influence of administrative reorganization, enrollment declines, work rule changes, and other factors on…

A study investigated the usefulness of a small-group management process to involve physicians and nurses in analysis of patient mix, practice patterns, and care outcomes and improvement of practice strategies. Eight studies, each on one clinical topic, were undertaken at three hospitals. Significant positive changes were observed in five of them.…

In this study, 182 Canadian senior administrators, middle managers, and front-line librarians in public and academic libraries were asked to describe the nature of organizational change in their workplaces and how new technology affected the restructuring. Respondents agreed that financial pressure is driving most change and that technology is a…