Abstract
Leaders of the nation's schools, colleges and departments of education are confronted with enormous problems. These include enrollment reductions, underfunding of programs, declines in the quality of the applicant pool, lack of adequate program space, a burgeoning knowledge base that often exceeds the capacity of faculty to use it, and the growing intervention by the state in setting admission and exit criteria and mandating curricula. Despite these problems, deans and directors are changing their programs to merit the national agenda for education: excellence and quality for all levels of schooling. These changes include reliance upon a solid knowledge base, micro-technology, rigorous program standards, extensive clinical or practicum experiences and the attraction of excellent candidates.