This study examines the socialization and enculturation process by which one becomes a school board member, using adult socialization and small group theory to construct a model of the role personalization process. Thirteen new school board members in seven Arizona school districts were interviewed indepth, from the announcement of their candidacy…

Individual members of state legislatures wield the greatest influence in state level policy formation. This was one of the findings of a study that identified the power and influence context of state-level policymaking. Data were gathered from six states (Arizona, California, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Illinois) using an instrument…

A study was undertaken to define the missions of Arizona's community colleges in specific operational terms and to assess the support provided for these missions by the various constituencies of the community colleges. A survey instrument, consisting of 60 activity statements, was developed and administered to 4,000 individuals including all state…

This report offers a consolidated systemwide analysis of key issues and recommendations for improvement of minority recruitment and retention at Arizona State Universities and an evaluation of progress toward achieving Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) approved recruitment and graduation goals. A description of ABOR system goals notes three goals:…

Institutional effectiveness can be defined as the extent to which internal priorities coincide with the priorities of the external groups that provide funding and support for the institution. If a lack of congruence exists between these priorities, a college administrator has the options of attempting to change the values of the external groups or…

This report summarizes the results of a conference on declining enrollment sponsored by the Arizona State Department of Education. Topics covered include school closing, budget implications of declining enrollment, staffing problems and reduction in force, board of education and community support, problems of small school districts, and…

The focus-group interview format was used to investigate the existence, interrelationship, perceived strengths, and indicators of insufficiency in the implementation of the Career Ladders (CL) teacher-incentive program in a rural Arizona school district. Two interviews were planned for each of the following groups: school board members; CL…

To determine perceptions of school board members, teachers, and principals in rural schools about the quality of their educational programs, the type of preparation they had received in preservice programs, and the inservice opportunities available to them, responses to questionnaires from 2,028 teachers, 119 principals, and 113 school board…

During the 1980s and 1990s, state legislatures became significantly involved in developing policy that determined how and where students should be offered their K-12 education. These legislative acts have occurred most notably in the passage of revision of policy dealing with public school finance, charter schools, home schools, choice enrollment,…