Reviews the first twenty years of the Education Commission of the States, covering aspects of organization, administration, and activities (including the operation of the National Assessment of Educational Progress from 1969 to 1983). Describes recent changes in the commission's organization and focus, and considers changing expectations for the…

The merging of four British teacher training institutions and the accompanying severe reduction in teaching staff is described, focusing on the teachers' role in the process, developing an administrative structure, and making decisions about program redundancy. (MSE)

In this chapter, Marcia Drew Hohn provides an overview of organizational development theory for adult educators interested in applying the lessons of such theory to the strengthening of ABE programs and systems. She begins the chapter with a brief history of the development of organizational theory, noting the progression from a mechanistic…

If you've ever thought that you should spend less time reacting to events and more time anticipating changes that lurk just around the corner, then here's a book that gives you the ideas and vision you need to be a future-focused leader. Drawing from demographic trends and timeless wisdom, author Gary Marx outfits you with a living strategy that…

This study analyses the impact of democratic decentralisation on the chances of socially excluded groups to participate in newly created local governance institutions--Panchayati Raj Institutions--in three Indian states. This institutional reform included a quota for the disadvantaged--women and lower castes--to ensure their effective…

This paper examines the emergence of a corporate work-family agenda into historical and organizational context. The paper discusses the forces that have influenced both the prevalence and nature of a corporate response to family concerns over time, and trends noticeable in the efforts of some companies to create family-friendly policies and…

This book addresses contemporary contexts of flexible learning and its practices and provides insights about directions that education and training providers may be required to follow to implement flexible learning in a variety of settings. Key issues and debates include the following: social and economic dimensions of flexible learning and…

The learning organization (LO) can be described as an organizational culture in which individual development is a priority, outmoded and erroneous ways of thinking are actively identified and corrected, and all members clearly understand and support the purpose and vision of the organization. The LO has proved difficult to define. These five…

This brief paper is a presentation that preceeded another case of considering the ongoing dialogue on the advantages and disadvantages of centralized and decentralized school-improvement processes. It attempts to raise a number of questions about the relationship between state-designed standards and accountability initiatives and change and…

The first of the four papers in this symposium, "The Role of the Survey in the Assessment of an Organization for High Performance Redesign: A Case Study" (Teresa K. Moyers, Oris T. Griffin), looks at how one company used a survey to analyze the way the social system currently is designed and operates. "Thriving on Change: An…

The is a restructuring of Syracuse University (New York) in the 1990s case study for the process of institutional restructuring. Sucess was achieved by promoting the process as positive change and making it an opportunity to involve the community in decision making and to renew institutional values and mission, drawing national attention from…

This study examines the changed and changing mission of community colleges in the 1990s in the United States and Canada. By narrowing the focus to the geographical area of the Pacific/ Western region, the study seeks to identify the development of international cultural connections consistent with the region and to explain how the globalization…

This paper discusses the genius of the principle of normalization in the development of better services for socially devalued people. It argues that the definition of normalization sets a direction for learning-through-action which is clear and convincing, as well as indefinite and conditional, and rests on a deep appreciation of the everyday…

This monograph suggests that many of the fundamental aspects of the design and delivery of education are changing radically. At the same time, three forces are converging to destabilize educational institutions: a new generation of learners is rewriting the rules of service, technology is opening new frontiers, and a new breed of competitors is…

This paper discusses the reorganization of libraries in order to adopt new techniques and to incorporate the electronic library, focusing on the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The first section addresses manpower and the electronic library, including processing electronic journals, justification for the traditional library organization…