Schools now face a sea of "evidence"--supposedly validated products, research findings, and test, demographic, and teacher-generated data--that leaders must use. How have recent reforms to educational doctorate (EdD) programs addressed these demands? Case studies of four exemplary EdD programs illustrate how the better ones help…

Describes the development of multisite qualitative research (studies that address the same question in several settings and use similar research procedures in each setting) and its use in educational research. Presents the results of a survey of 25 multisite qualitative educational studies to highlight the design's institutional and methodological…

Discusses four case studies of regional educational service agencies in their role as disseminators of new knowledge. Three characteristic approaches to dissemination were identified, namely, laissez-faire, entrepreneurial, and authoritarian. These approaches were shaped by five factors in the agency's context: state policy initiatives; client…

Using two case studies, this article amends Gouldner's findings about the effects of executive succession on bureaucracy in three ways. First, introducing an outside chief executive can lead to increased professionalism instead of increased bureaucracy. Also, superintendents cannot unilaterally determine the outcomes of change. Formal structural…

Organizational theory suggests great pessimism about the potential of school districts for supporting educational improvement. The traditional view is that educational organizations--and school districts, in particular--are loosely coupled organizations where the main resources for central leadership are insufficient to penetrate the isolation of…

This report covers the first year of a five-year study of 11 school districts that are involved in school improvement activities. The schools are attempting to create new programs that will increase the effectiveness of linking agents working with the schools in three curriculum areas: basic skills, career preparation, and citizen education.…

The histories of five multisite, qualitative policy studies were examined to see how much variation in formalization reflected the technical requirements of the research problem, the demands of the federal client, and the preferences of the project team and its professional network. (Author/PN)

State-sponsored teacher networks in Vermont and California are compared, using interviews with teachers, network staff, and policymakers. It is concluded that state-sponsored networks can improve teachers' knowledge and motivation while empowering them. Recommendations are made for loosely coupled and capacity-building strategies to support…

Illustrates the web of relationships among state education agencies, regional educational service agencies (RESAs), state legislatures, state boards of education, and school districts through case studies of two RESA systems. Also compares the "active" and "quiet" approaches taken by the respective states and identifies policy…

Development has traditionally been seen as part of a one-way street running from the researcher to the practitioner. Studies of the "mutual adaptation" of development products undercut this view of development and suggest that it should be seen as a two-way street that takes into account the practical knowledge of teachers and administrators. A…

This book clarifies current efforts to reform teaching by providing a conceptual analysis of what a professional and a bureaucratic view of teaching entail. Case studies are presented illustrating what happens when differing approaches to teachers' work are tried in three school districts. The first chapter describes the two approaches to reform…

Identifies a set of change leadership functions including sustaining a vision for change, encouraging staff, modifying standard operating procedures, and monitoring progress. Suggests that these functions do contribute to change, but are also performed redundantly by persons in a variety of overlapping roles, including central office personnel,…

Based on intensive case studies of two school districts, this study compared two teacher work reforms: merit pay and job enlargement. Interviews with 64 teachers and 53 administrators, supplemented by over 1,300 survey responses, indicate the efficacy of each approach and the potential advantages of job enlargement. (SLD)

This study examined three districts that redesigned teaching, two with career ladders and one with shared governance. The reforms, both professional and bureaucratic, had important consequences for the process and outcomes of the redesign of teaching. Discrete organizational and political factors were identified. (TJH)

This book describes the chain stretching from President Nixon's announcement of the Experimental Schools Program in 1969 to the midpoint of its implementation in the Butte-Angels Camp School District (pseudonym for a small mountainous district 400 miles from Denver) in 1976. The story is told in some detail to illustrate the complexities of the…