The coprincipalship has been suggested as an organizational structure that addresses the increasing workload and time demands of the principal as well as the shortage of qualified applicants for the position. This article presents the findings of a qualitative study of coprincipals in public and private schools in California, Illinois,…

Financial misdeeds, athletics scandals, and votes of "no confidence." How does a president escape all of these and hold office for the long haul? And "why" does one serve for an extensive term? In this article, the author explores these questions as he looks back on his long tenure at The George Washington University. He…

The National Institute of School Leadership's (NISL's) Executive Development Program (EDP) was established to provide professional development to school leaders to drive their schools to high performance. The program emphasizes the role of principals as strategic thinkers, instructional leaders, and creators of a just, fair, and caring culture in…

Investigates second-year Massachusetts teachers' experiences with three professional cultures of their schools: veteran-oriented, novice-oriented, and integrated. Finds, for example, that integrated professional cultures, unlike either veteran- or novice-oriented cultures, provided new teachers with sustained support and collegial exchange…

In a field of revolving-door leaders, Thomas W. Payzant is the exception to the rule. Amid the rise and fall of superintendents in city after city, he has led the Boston Public Schools for nearly 11 years. Now, as he prepares to retire, the district offers a rare glimpse of what is possible with stable leadership in urban education. It is a story…

The guide is intended to help Massachusetts school districts evaluate local educational programs serving visually handicapped students. The document is composed of two self study questionnaires: one to be completed by the teacher of visually handicapped students and one to be completed by administrators or supervisors in charge of the program. The…

A Bedford, Massachusetts, middle school lived through a series of critical incidents while moving into site-based management. Flaps developed over minute-taking responsibilities in faculty meetings and a student exchange arrangement with an inner-city middle school. A "pyramiding" process to close the communication gap helped maintain…

This booklet documents the 1990 colloquium for Massachusetts superintendents, Leading the Way. The colloquium program is one of several initiatives of the School-Based Improvement Project (SBIP), which is a partnership between the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents and the Office of Community Education of the Massachusetts…

Chapter 5 of a revised volume on school leadership, this chapter presents the case for school-based management, stressing the principal's central role. In site management, the school is the primary decision-making unit. Decisions concerning expenditures, curricula, and personnel are made by school site staff, with help from parents, students, and…

The paper reviews the experiences of special education administrators in Quincy (MA) Public Schools regarding compliance with P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. Noted are the decentralized model of Pupil Personnel Service Teams, the administrator's role in guiding teachers to set priorities in academic and vocational…

This study examines tracking--the practice of grouping students into separate classes or courses based on their prior academic achievement--at the middle-school level, and the percentage of high-achieving students in tracked and untracked schools. It focuses on Massachusetts, a leader in "reforming" tracking, and the changes that have…

Although the number of urban Catholic schools has declined in recent years, Nativity model middle schools, first developed by the Jesuits over 35 years ago, have appeared throughout the nation to address the need for effective alternative education for urban children placed at risk. The present study compares the effectiveness of two types of…

The School-Based Improvement Project (SBIP) is a cooperative venture between the Office of Community Education of the Massachusetts Department of Education and the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents (MASS). SBIP is a multiyear professional-development initiative designed to improve the leadership of superintendents who are engaged…

Junior and senior high school English department heads in Massachusetts were surveyed as part of a project to provide a clearer picture of the extent and diversity of the department head's role and responsibilities, to offer recommendations to make the job more manageable and satisfying, and to provoke discussion and positive action. Separate…

The new chancellors of the Maine, Massachusetts, and West Virginia state higher education systems use different styles to tackle highly political jobs that frustrated their predecessors. (MSE)