Welfare Reform on the Web (March 2000): Education - Overseas
ACADEMIC ACCOUNTABILITY AND UNIVERSITY ADAPTATION: THE ARCHITECTURE OF AN ACADEMIC LEARNING ORGANIZATION
D. D Dill
Higher Education, vol.8, 1999, p.127-154
The new competitive environment of higher education throughout the world appears to be creating incentives for universities to become active learning organizations. Paper reviews adaptations in organizational structure and governance reported by universities attempting to improve the quality of their teaching and learning processes.
CHARTER SCHOOLS: A PRIMER ON THE ISSUES
S. Vergari
Education and urban society, vol.31, 1999, p.389-405
Presents an overview of the definition, history and basic concept of charter schools. A charter school is a state school operated by charter or contract between those who form the school (parents, teachers and/or community members who collaboratively determine the school's structure) and the state. An approved charter school ordinarily receives the same average per pupil funding as other public schools in the state.
CHARTER SCHOOLS: SERVING DISADVANTAGED YOUTH
B. V. Manno, G. Vanourek, and C.E. Finn, Jr.
Education and Urban Society, vol.31, 1999, p.429-445
Article refutes allegations that: charter schools "cream off" the brighter children and leave the neediest behind: charter schools do not adequately serve disabled children: and that charter schools balkanise American society and weaken the principal institution that knits it together, the state school system.
CHARTER SCHOOLS AND THE LAW: EMERGING ISSUES
C. J. Russo and J. d. Massucci
Education and Urban Society, vol. 31, 1991, p.489-498
After a review of the legal definition of a charter school, article considers the results of a study on the impact of charter school laws on urban schools. Then reviews the question of whether charter schools are public institutions before examining the key constitutional questions these schools may face. Finally reflects on the challenge that charter schools face in labour relations and dealing with teachers' unions.
CHARTER-GRANTING AGENCIES: THE CHALLENGES OF OVERSIGHT IN A DEREGULATED SYSTEM
B. C. Hassel and S. Vergari
Education and Urban Society, vol. 31, 1999, p.406-428
Authors analyse the activities of a sample of active Charter Granting Agencies (CGAs) in order to understand the central challenges they have faced in creating and monitoring charter schools and the responses they have crafted to those challenges. Through interviews with key officials and the examination of documents that undergrid their work, authors have generated conclusions about what the new oversight role entails, what is proving difficult about it, and how policy and practice might evolve to meet the challenges more effectively.
CHARTERS: A VALUE-ADDED OPPORTUNITY FOR URBAN TEACHERS?
T. J. Lasley et al
Education and Urban Society, vol.31, 1991, p.499-511
Article focuses on the question of whether charter schools have the capacity to enhance the instructional performance of teachers. Argues that charter schools are in a better position than state schools to foster excellence in teacher performance and student achievement.
AN EVALUATION OF SUCCESS IN AN ALTERNATIVE LEARNING PROGRAMME: MOTIVATIONAL IMPACT VERSUS COMPLETION RATE
J. D. Nichols and B. E. Steffy
Educational Review, vol.51, 1999, p.207-219
Study examined an alternative learning programme for disruptive pupils and its effect on student motivation and self-esteem in a large urban school district in the central region of the US.
GLOBALISATION AND AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES: POLICIES AND IMPACTS
G. Pratt and D. Poole
International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 12, 1999, p.533-544
When Australian university leaders invoke globalisation as a means of laying the groundwork for change, of repositioning their institutions or of establishing a new sectoral discourse, they are referring to forces which are clearly impacting upon their institutions either via centralised policy reforms or via technological change. Globalisation of Australian universities is more influential upon their operations and environment than its use as a rhetorical device could ever signify.
INSTITUTIONAL TRANSFORMATION OF SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES: IMPLICATIONS FOR ACADEMIC STAFF
M. Fourie
Higher Education, vol.38, 1999, p.275-290
Five interlinked and interdependent issues characterizing institutional transformation in South Africa are identified:
- democratisation of governance structures;
- increasing access for disadvantaged students;
- restructuring the curriculum;
- focusing on developmental needs in research and community service;
- redressing inequalities in terms of race and gender.
Although institutional transformation is experienced negatively by many academic staff members, paper concludes that academics have to be empowered by means of staff development to remain active partners in the transformation process.