Presents results of a survey of library and information studies (LIS) departments in the United Kingdom that investigated computer methods currently in use in the teaching of LIS courses. Highlights include the Computers in Teaching Initiative (CTI), where LIS departments fit within academic institutions, and the software used. (16 references)…

Questionnaires sent to principals of 10,363 public and private high schools elicited 3,380 (33%) responses. Discusses responses to 36 indicators of change in 5 broad areas: (1) curriculum and teaching; (2) school organization; (3) community outreach; (4) technology; and (5) monetary incentives to improve performance. (MLF)

Provides background information on the Hudson Institute's "Charter Schools in Action" project that studied 50 charter schools in 10 states. Examines innovative ways charter schools organize and support themselves, and presents five lessons from the charter-school movement. Public schools would benefit by becoming more consumer-oriented,…

Explores whether and how teachers' communication behavior varies within and between schools, based on a sample of eight Dutch primary schools. Also examines how teachers' network participation is related to their perception of different types of tasks. Teacher isolation at least partly results from individual teachers' behavior. (42 references)…

Examines school reform efforts through a "reculturing," rather than a restructuring, lens, based on a sample of schools engaged with five reform models (Accelerated Schools, Coalition of Essential Schools, Comer's School Development Program, Effective Schools, and Success for All). A newly developed instrument enhances understanding of…

The advent of large-scale matched data sets, linking pupils' attainment across key stages, gives new opportunities to explore the effects of school organisational factors on pupil performance. Combined with currently available sophisticated and efficient software for multilevel analysis, it offers educational researchers the chance to develop…

Background: Current federal, state, and local school accountability measures as well as policy initiatives that call for improved leadership have placed increasing demands on principals. Many districts face shortages of appropriate candidates for the job; popularly, this shortage is explained by the fact that simply too few hero-principals exist…

Nested in a complex environment of expectations, regulations, professional standards, and historical traditions, schools are the object of many influences. The main question of this paper is: To what extent and under what conditions do external agents help schools develop intellectual quality and strong professional communities? The paper examines…

This study examines retention rates in Dade County (Florida) schools, using aggregate statistical data for the school years 1982-83 through 1988-89 to describe existing patterns and changes over time. An earlier study established commonalities of pattern across grades, over great disparities of circumstances, and across time. The following…

The examination of school organization from a cultural perspective focuses on value orientation and commitment in elementary and secondary schools, and relates the predicted cultural differences to specific organizational and demographic attributes. A cluster-sampling procedure first selected schools as the unit of analysis, and then selected…

Several aspects of unplanned system change in schools are investigated in this paper. Researchers relied heavily on current theoretical perspectives on the nature of educational systems, particularly those that emphasize the "loosely coupled" nature of educational organizations. Two hypotheses were tested. The first is that natural…

The Town of Manassas Park (Virginia) officially became a city in 1975; shortly thereafter the State Board of Education certified the city as a separate school division. This report provides data regarding the method of initiating a viable and legal school division for 2,200 students to be in operation by September 1, 1976. Parameters set by city…

There exists a body of theory and assumption that runs squarely at odds with that which has provided the ideological underpinnings of educational administration as it has been developed over the past two decades. The ideological conflict between these two views rests on two fundamentally different ways of looking at the world. One is the…

Educational planning involves giving attention to the social, political, and educational complexity of schooling. Where reform programs do not consider the underlying patterns of school belief and conduct, innovations may only rearrange the technological surface. (Author)

Interviews with the heads of planning units in four Mexican universities at different stages of organizational development in 1982 and 1983 provided data for research on the relationship between organizational structure and adaptive performance. The findings suggested that universities that reorganize have better opportunities to adapt to external…