This study developed and validated a conceptual framework to explore the link between faculty receptivity and resistance to innovation and change, and organizational effectiveness. The study also sought to clearly delineate the difference between receptivity, which is defined as an internal or cognitive orientation toward change, and resistance,…

This book meets a critical assessment need which is the need to develop legally and educationally defensible assessment procedures for use with non-English language background students who are still in the process of learning English. The purpose of this text is to provide educators with both the information on which to make effective educational…

This study sought to identify and analyze critical factors in a Hispanic student's decision to persist or drop out at California state four-year institutions. In-depth telephone interviews with 151 Hispanic American students at five University of California campuses and seven California State University campuses were conducted. The interviews…

With the growing interest in leadership in teachers and in the debate over whether teacher education programs should foster leadership qualities, this study assessed how senior students enrolled in the College of Education at Marshall University (West Virginia) perceived their own leadership skills. Participants were a random sample of 170…

This study focuses on predictors of student sensitivity to college tuition and financial aid in their college choice process. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study on the postsecondary education choices of high school students in the state of Indiana. The variables student and family background, student academic characteristics, student…

This study of the school board agenda-setting role among 30 Minnesota superintendents interprets their perceptions in relation to environmental contexts, group demands, issues control, and district enrollment size. A microperspective of David Easton's political systems model provided the guiding conceptual framework. Respondents were interviewed…

The first purpose of this study was to identify significant factors affecting the first benchmark in retaining students in college--the decision to enroll in the first fall semester after orientation. The second purpose was to examine enrollment decisions at the second benchmark--the decision to re-enroll in the second fall semester after freshman…

This study used focused interviews, participant observations, and document review to identify five organizational and personal factors that 40 teachers (general education, special education, and specialists) in a small rural school district reported as affecting their receptivity to change: (1) the degree to which schools are ready for change; (2)…

This article reviews the existing anthropological and sociological evidence on school choice and educational stratification in Japan. Traditional linear models developed in the West have given little insight into how stratification processes actually occur. There must be analysis of the institutional linkages and organizational cultures of schools…

A study compared the high school, postsecondary education, and work experience records of graduates from four high school programs of study. Graduates of Academic/College Preparatory (ACP), General (GEN), Home School Business Program (HSBP), and Area Vocational-Technical School (AVTS) from 1982, 1985, and 1988 were surveyed during the 1989-90…

A Pittsburgh School District study compared vocational, academic, and general students for the years 1983, 1986, and 1989. It collected information on secondary experience, postsecondary options, postsecondary education/training dropout and completion rates, employment history, geographic mobility, and income history. A specific question related…

Drawing on interviews with 180 staff members from 45 public high schools in 15 states, this document examines the advantages and disadvantages of teacher participation in shared decision making. The settings of six high schools that had structured mechanisms for teacher participation in school decisions are described, and problems that emerged…

This summary report presents methodologies, results, and conclusions of a two-year evaluation model implemented by an Alberta, Canada, rural school district to provide information for administrative and public decision making. An introductory chapter enumerates district goals for students and the model's objectives. Chapter 2 outlines how survey…

The study reported in this document examined how special education administrators and staff in 100 school districts were involved in the adoption of new educational technology. The sample was drawn from the known population list of operating school districts from the Common Core of Data of the National Center for Educational Statistics. Selection…

A study determined the use of different information sources for decision making used by traditional Arab farmers in Israel. A questionnaire was used to interview 48 farmers from 4 villages in the Nazareth region and 56 farmers from 5 villages in the Gaza strip in their homes. Farmers were asked to name major innovations they had adopted during the…