A study of stress among 786 faculty at a land-grant university found differences in stress levels among discipline groups and higher stress reported by women than by men. The findings are discussed, and several proposals are made for individual faculty members, department heads, and academic administrators for addressing the problems of workplace…

One university's approach to institutional research to improve student retention is described. The urban, public institution has a large population of nontraditional students. A task force identified barriers to student success, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Techniques for involvement of all constituencies and turning research…

An international study of the principal's role in developing and supporting information-literate school communities was conducted in Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Japan, Scotland, and South Korea. The study sought to inform the efforts of principals and teacher-librarians throughout the world seeking to develop such communities. Researchers…

After a theoretical analysis of the concept of organizational citizenship is elaborated, we complete an analysis of the characteristics of school organization that promote citizenship behaviors. We assume that the leadership of the principal is critical in such an endeavor as well as the trust that colleagues have in each other and the extent to…

While transformational leadership has received much attention in recent years, the purpose of this article is to explicate the concept of transition leadership and its centrality to understanding policy implementation and school change through a case study of one district and its school principals, transitioning from court-ordered desegregation to…

This article unpacks the decision to decharter a successful urban middle school serving African American students, especially focusing on parental choice in a school caught between two urban reform initiatives: charter schooling and state takeovers of urban districts. Originally chartered by a university, DeCharter became a "school of choice" in…

This document consists of four papers presented at a symposium on core directions in human resource development (HRD) moderated by Verna Willis at the 1996 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development. "Reengineering the Organizational HRD Function: Two Case Studies" (Neal Chalofsky) reports an action research study in which…

A study was done of recent district-initiated reform movements by analyzing different belief systems regarding schools and reform and by applying the analysis to a study of a district widely known for its leading role in implementing reforms. Belief System I is consistent with traditional organizational theory and top-down management. Belief…

This paper reports the perspectives of county-level supervisors who have been important in advancing state-mandated school reforms in West Virginia. A chronological background on West Virginia school reform from 1982 through 1997 covers legislation related to the "Recht Decision," state reform initiatives, creation of the School Building…

A survey of 312 teachers and families of students with severe disabilities in California, Colorado, Kentucky, Utah, and Virginia was designed to measure the extent of implementation of 12 educational "best practices" and the level of demonstration of 7 student outcome variables. The educational practices included: integration into school and…

Restructuring public education is central to the task of creating a healthy, just society. For the past 2 years, California Tomorrow's Education for a Diverse Society/School Restructuring Project has visited 32 randomly selected schools throughout California and talked with 1,000 teachers, students, parents, administrators, and advocates involved…

This study explores the principal's role as instructional leader in four urban schools showing improvement in test scores. Data gathering procedures included ethnographic observations and interviews of principals; principals' logs of time use; interviews with teachers, school administrators, and students; and faculty surveys. The findings were…

Drawing on data from a study of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, this report analyzes the technical assistance that local districts receive in compensatory education, with an emphasis on the relationship between technical assistance and the local decision-making that ultimately shapes the program. The first section describes…

Three possible explanations for superintendent succession focus on poor administrative performance, district response strategies, and the politics of the chief executive's relationship with the school board. To analyze succession in the context of declining enrollment, a case study survey was conducted of 56 school districts whose peak enrollment…

This volume, the second of two reports on development of teacher incentive structures, presents case studies of a career ladder design and teacher evaluation experiment in four Utah school districts. Case studies examined relationships among career ladder features, process variables, and career ladder effectiveness, which is defined in terms of…