A University of Florida instructional improvement program includes these features: competitive awards in the form of base faculty salary increases, three-year cycle for competition, focus on undergraduate teaching, and use of measures of both quantity (contact/credit hours) and quality (portfolios) of instruction. The program evolved from a…

Society must reconceptualize the public school as any nonprofit entity willing to be accountable for educating our children. The new system should emphasize common standards and school choice. Charter experiments in Moses Lake, Washington; Milwaukee; and Harlem demonstrate the power of choice and transformational leadership. (Contains 11…

Explores both the strengths that minority-serving institutions have brought to serving the educational needs of racial and ethnic minority students and the divergent perspectives that have tended to generate competition among them for scarce resources. Potential integrative policy directions include information sharing, collaboration for entry…

Internet-based master's programs in business administration (M.B.A.s) serve a market that could bring significant revenues to business schools, providing new access to mid- to upper-level managers who want degrees to advance their careers but who cannot take time from work, or to young executives whose bosses offer to pay for the degree but not…

One answer to the question of why government organizations don't perform better - common in academic "public choice" literature but also in folk wisdom--is that resources come too easily, independent of performance. Some business management literature suggests that a crisis in resource flows can force successful change--"necessity is the mother of…

In this article, the author discusses the idea of "Pell Grants for Kids," a plan that would provide a $500 scholarship to each middle- and low-income child in America. Children could use these scholarships at any public or private school or for any educational program, such as private tutoring. Homeschooled children would also be…

This chapter describes the evolution of the workforce development mission and its current crisis in the face of changing training demands, shriveling government support, and rising competition. Two alternative future paths are outlined: a baccalaureate degree-oriented new vocationalism and a renewed emphasis on serving the training needs of…

This article questions the assumption that increasing competition among higher education institutions is the best method of achieving a strong higher education sector in developing countries. It notes that there has been increasing emphasis on the importance of higher education institutions for sustainable development, particularly because of…

This article presents a design of educational software employing group competition using a large interactive electronic whiteboard, and a report on its experimental use. Group competition and collaboration are useful methods to cultivate originality and communication skills. To share the same space, the same large screen, and face-to-face…

This article describes two emerging technologies--Skype and podcasting. Both Skype and podcasting can be considered "disruptive technologies" in that they allow for new and different ways of doing familiar tasks, and in the process, may threaten traditional industries. Skype, the "people's telephone," is a free, Internet-based alternative to…

Over the past year, a number of journals have reprised many of the questions plaguing higher education--providing a full year's worth of sleepless nights. While each of these issues justifies considerable dialogue and attention, the one issue on which parents, students, the public, and educators can agree is the importance--and the challenge--of…

With diminishing returns to the peer group, it is optimal social policy to mix children in schools. We consider what happens when, contrary to the outcome being determined by a social planner, schools and children are free to seek each other out: with some caveats, this leads to perfect segregation by child quality. It is shown that this is the…

In his career in education, the author has spent much time working on behalf of independent schools and non-profit organizations both in the U.S. and abroad. He believes that his work in the world of tuition-driven institutions has given him some insights into the care and feeding of successful schools. He further believes that many of the things…

Close relationships among children and adolescents are ordinarily considered to encompass friendliness and fun. Recent studies, however, reveal that many friendships have dark sides consisting of competitiveness, hostility, and conflict. Relationships based on aversion and antipathy may turn out to have major developmental implications, but more…

Large companies and major business groups are known for hiring well-heeled lobbyists to push for their interests, especially in such areas as tax and spending laws. Their federal lobbying presence on education issues has been relatively modest. The author discusses the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable--two prominent…