Research in educational administration needs a coherent empirical base for a comprehensive, ecologically valid theory of administration. This paper describes Roger Barker's Behavior Setting Theory and promotes it as a broad-based conceptual framework for research on educational administration. (Author/TE)

Five articles about the management of library and information science schools discuss the administrative relationship of the school to the parent institution; faculty governance; the changing role of the library school administrator; funding provided by the parent institution for education and research; and external funding for library education.…

This paper presents a holistic conceptualization of the school as an autonomous system. Two major scientific paradigms, reductionism and holism, are outlined and their impacts on educational administration are discussed. Findings of a study that investigated the participation of the governing bodies of independent schools in the schools'…

Intended for use by individuals or groups in initiating strategic thinking and planning, this document provides national data on 21 dimensions of the environmental scanning process grouped into nine categories and presents a model of strategic planning. Following a brief introduction describing the importance of environmental factors in planning,…

The inability of university professors to communicate about shared concepts and concerns--e.g., meaning, self, integrity, an ideal of truth--is related to the fragmented university, departmentalized and bureaucratized. The impact of this on the humanity of those involved is sketched, and suppositions are advanced about the nature of education.…

This discussion of the effects of Information Revolution on special libraries highlights changes in clients that consume services and approve budgets (institutions, corporations, government departments); interrelated triggers to informationization (network organization, information technology, human capital); and three types of information for…

Educator and researcher specializing in student retention, Tinto discusses own experience leaving doctoral program to join Peace Corps, reviews internal and external causes of attrition, characteristics of successful retention programs, and role of teaching in retention. Favors establishing a sense of community on campuses to enhance students'…

Argues that the technological revolution has changed occupational skills and employers' needs, forcing community colleges to do more with the same or less money. Calls for the reengineering of education to move from the current dependency on entitlements and legislative protection to a market-driven, cost-justified system. (MAB)

Appalachian continuities include attachment to land and religion, high teen pregnancy, and low literacy and income. Trends in Appalachia that institutions of higher education must address are higher rates of college attendance, migration to urban areas, changes in student learning styles, and increasing pressure to educate students to workplace…

Increasing national awareness of the importance of a holistic approach to improving postsecondary education puts Appalachian colleges and universities in a potential leadership position due to their experience in integrating student needs, community service, and professional education programs. Discusses faculty development strategies that will…

Examines the quality of care in two mid-19th-century day nurseries in North America. Finds that quality was associated with saving children's lives within a context of charity-based social welfare. The concern for the health and safety of children led to the entrenchment of a custodial model of child care, which proved resilient into the 20th…

In this article, the author discusses his contention that even the best of the best of American schools are not quality schools. He also observes that the curriculum that has been in place since 1892 was the main reason why schools cannot offer the best in quality education. He cites the ten problems that have plagued the American educational…

Public school teachers often work in "classroom cells" that are "symbols and predictive of their relative isolation from one another and from sources of ideas beyond their own background of experience." This type of environment, where teachers rarely join in collaborative endeavors and spend little of their professional time with other adult…

The prison college classroom exists in an environment cut off from the outside world, where the debate over the prison classroom's very existence is fueled by public perceptions and media-generated ideas. The violent Lucasville riots in Ohio in 1994 are fresh in the minds of the public, and movies like "Shawshank Redemption" and…

Livingston College, a branch of Rutgers University in New Jersey, was established to provide working class and disadvantaged ethnic groups with access to an innovative and socially oriented higher education curriculum. Contradictory values in the dominant society, however, led to the college's failure to realize its goals, and its eventual…