Moving a Liberal Education Program from Adoption to Implementation: New Forces and New Issues

Authors

L. Jackson Newell, University of Utah

Abstract

At the Boston meeting of the Association of General and Liberal Studies in 1976, I had the privilege of reporting on the two-year process by which the University of Utah assessed its general education program, planned major revisions in it, and saw them adopted by the University Senate. It is now my task to report on the less glamorous, but probably more crucial, process by which a formally adopted program is implemented. The research of John Pratt and Tyrrell Burgess,¹ which has assessed major educational policy changes in Great Britain , suggests that scholars and educational policy makers generally focus on the problems of adopting major reforms, but ignore the vita l stage that follows. Their studies reveal that what is gained by formal adoption is more often than not lost through a series of compromises in the years that follow. Rather than relaxing with a sense of achievement when reforms are adopted, they remind us, educational reformers should redouble their efforts for the real test.

The body of this paper will be divided into two major sections. Part I, a case history, will describe the reform process, concentrating on the implementation phase. Part II will analyze forces and issues in the implementation phase, noting the influence of both national and local events.

Recommended Citation

Newell, L. Jackson (1979) "Moving a Liberal Education Program from Adoption to Implementation: New Forces and New Issues," Perspectives (1969-1979): Vol. 10: No. 1, Article 5.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/perspectives/vol10/iss1/5