This study was an attempt to add the voices of women to the discourse of school leadership. It focused on the nature of the middle school leadership experiences of three female middle school principals, their social interactions based on gender role expectations and their own leadership perspectives. Findings suggest that middle school leadership…

Purpose: This article describes how trust emerged as an issue in one school district and the processes by which central office administrators enhanced trust with its school site leaders. Method: This exploratory participant observer case study uses multiple sources of data including surveys, interviews, observations, and documents collected during…

Responds in an ongoing dialogue with Peter Gronn about the need for self-critical inquirers who emphasize openness and skepticism in research methods and ideas. (MLF)

Outlines a study of two teachers' image of "the classroom as home" illustrating how personal and professional experiences are expressed in their classroom practices. Offers a theoretical concept of "image" as knowledge incorporating theoretical, practical, objective, and subjective experience. (MD)

To determine the nature of camp for senior citizens, four participant observers (staff members) conducted open-ended interviews with campers at a five-day residential camp in Oregon. Results showed universal satisfaction with the camp experience. Campers valued the wide range of activities, comfortable places to socialize, and staff relations with…

Investigates administrative metaphors and the school principalship in the current literature. Three metaphors--maintenance, survival, and vision--are explored through participant observation of the behavior of five principals. (MLF)

This study investigated sources of resistance to development of integrated preschool programs, expressed in interviews with 30 parents, teachers, and administrators and in observations of planning meetings. Findings suggest that perceived loss of political control over aspects of programs that have been informally negotiated among parents,…

Asserts that ethnography's development out of anthropology left it tainted with biases from colonialism and imperialism. Discusses several contemporary approaches, including critical ethnography, really useful knowledge, and action research. Suggests further incorporation of postmodernist ideas into the field of ethnography. (MJP)

Based on the experiences of a participant observer (weekly playground volunteer) over the course of one school year, this paper recounts the experiences of first through third graders during recess and discusses the importance of outdoor play for providing children an opportunity to speak and act unfettered by adult expectations, thereby promoting…

This final volume of a six-volume study of an elementary school called "Kensington" in a school district code-named "Milford," examines its own assumptions and procedures. After the brief, introductory chapter, which presents the methodological appendixes of the preceding volumes as a serial, chapter 2 discusses exploratory and…

Despite enormous political, social, and psychological forces working against them, some inner city black youths defy the odds and succeed academically. This study focuses on a group of successful at-risk minority students in an urban secondary school, and in particular on their student experience, including interactions with school culture,…