This theme issue describes ways in which educational administrators are successfully automating many of their administrative tasks. Articles focus on student management; office automation, including word processing, databases, and spreadsheets; human resources; support services, including supplies, textbooks, and learning resources; financial…

A family-focused approach to schools and community service requires acknowledging the central role families play in children's well-being, shifting the roles of service institutions to reflect this, and creating community supports that assist families. Implementing this approach requires time for understanding and partnership. (SLD)

Criticizes recent revisions in the National Curriculum for English in Great Britain. The author deplores that the new National Curriculum has not seized the opportunity of recognizing Britain as a multilingual, multicultural society and provides practical strategies for implementing the new English orders for both quality and equality. (GR)

Discusses flexible scheduling in school library media centers. Highlights include integrating classroom instruction with library instruction, collaboration between classroom teachers and teacher librarians, information skills curriculum, access to the library resource center, team planning, expectations of principals, commitment to resource-based…

Maintains that the issue of school autonomy is being discussed widely in Germany. Describes autonomy as greater independence within a framework of tasks that still must be defined and accounted for politically and legally. Examines possible consequences of school autonomy, including responsibility for results. (CFR)

Effects of variations of program evaluation purpose and methodology on decision-making information needs of various stakeholders were examined with 475 participants in planning for early childhood special education (223 administrators, 140 service personnel, and 112 parents). A program evaluation's purpose and methodology differentially affect…

Resource-based learning and information literacy skills play important roles in the Minnesota State University System's efforts to improve undergraduate educational quality, and the library is seen as both the locus and the agent for acquiring those skills. A blue ribbon commission's 1991 report describes the academic library of the future.…

This second in a series of articles on planning for instructional computer networks focuses on site preparation, installation, service, and support. Highlights include an implementation schedule; classroom and computer lab layouts; electrical power needs; workstations; network cable; telephones; furniture; climate control; and security. (LRW)

Discusses the difficulties of educational reform in what was formerly East Germany. Describes the educational system in East Germany as uniform and military in nature. Criticizes the one-sidedness of socialist education and its politicalization. Compares classroom atmospheres before and after the Germanies were united. (DK)

Among concepts that seem to be the guardian angels of school reform, coherence is a rebel angel, advancing human learning, but escaping control. Coherence must not be confused with consistency. It allows for change and imagination but remains true to concepts and experiences that construct coherence without fabricating consistency. (SLD)

Examines opposing trends in administration and policy that simultaneously influence the size and shape of American school systems. Consolidation has reduced the number of districts, while decentralization reduces the size of the school district by dividing it into smaller units. Twenty issues are identified for districts considering either option.…

Describes the School-Community Connection Conference held in Flint (Michigan) on October 11-13, 1992, and the action plans that seven participating schools devised to improve the relationship between schools and their communities. The conference paired representatives from the state departments of education with school-based action teams to…

Presents a bibliography on education in Africa. Topics addressed include religion and education; modernization and development, including political aspects, language policy, planning and financing, and international cooperation; education for community and rural development; education and work; demographic and environmental problems; and groups in…

Asserts that the current national standards movement is a broadly based discussion and debate about what art educators hope to and should accomplish through their work. Reviews the origins and process of developing national art education standards. (CFR)

Outlines the development of the New Hampshire Community Technical College System (NHCTCS), including its transfer program, noncredit continuing-education courses, and community services. States that under the current proactive leadership, NHCTCS is poised to expand and intensify its mission to provide economic and community development for all New…