School principals' interpretation of the context for their work has significant implications for their practice and for organisational theory educational settings. Principals' sense-making capability can change over time, as in all adults. Sense-making capability is grounded in adult ego development (AED) theory which describes eight distinct…

Communities of practice as organisations of learning have developed different forms as: task-based, practice-based or knowledge based communities (Barab et al., 2004). The paper presents a case study of a successful community of practice developed under the umbrella of Council of Europe Pestalozzi programme for teacher development. The programme…

Technology, one of the important factors that influence success in schools, should be planned and used effectively in schools. Technology planning is significant because it gives information about the current situation and of the target future goals as well as because the present technology should be used effectively. This study focuses on the…

This paper offers a humorous parable showing the trials and problems facing a chief lawyer for an institution of higher education. The lawyer, who happens to be a pit bull, faces such issues as deciding whether to take this new position at the university, his orientation to the university setting, his experience dealing with the workload and lack…

This case study illustrates and expands upon the principle that innovation efforts involve both role change and change in role interrelationships, changes that (ideally) will be supportive of the innovation effort, but which may--if duplication, gaps among roles, or tension arise--weaken or destroy the effort. A planning effort in the Cleveland…

Case study methodology using structured interviewing and cognitive mapping techniques has been used to reveal the contrasting role perspectives and evaluative judgment criteria of three university student teacher supervisors with different professional backgrounds. This study extends an earlier investigation by comparing these role perspectives…

We utilized a Delphi technique to explore roles and competencies as identified and ranked by 106 upper level graduate students specializing in distance education. Student responses were compared to two previous studies utilizing distance education practitioner/scholar respondents. Although the roles identified were similar to previous studies, the…

This study investigates beginning teacher induction programs; what is known about experienced teachers acting as mentors; what mentors do and how they think about their work; and what novices learn from their interactions with them. This case study describes how one support teacher, Pete Frazer, a 30-year veteran, defines and enacts his role with…

A study analyzed the dinner-table discourse in a Caucasian-American, upper-middle-class two-parent family with children aged seven (female) and eight (male) for evidence of how family narrative practices socialize children into family, social, and cultural membership. It is also proposed that discourse in families both indexes and constitutes…

The role perceptions and activities of seven individuals responsible for coordination of the efforts of their respective districts to comply with the requirements of Title IX of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act are described in this research report. All seven districts involved in the study complied at least with the letter of the law.…

This study sought to understand how executive committee members and deans experience and perceive the process of governance within their institutions. Following a brief review of the literature, the paper reviews three models of academic governance: the academic bureaucracy, the political institution, and the collegium and discusses previous…

This paper presents four case studies in which high school department chairs fulfill instructional leadership roles more commonly associated with principals and assistant principals. The study explores specific instructional leadership practices and factors contributing to the establishment and fulfillment of the position; and it determines to…

Earlier research by the Concerns-Based Adoption Model Project at the Austin campus of the University of Texas has identified seven "Stages of Concern" that teachers and other front line users of classroom innovations could have. This study examines, first, whether principals have the same or similar stages of concern about their change…

Four types of interinstitutional arrangements in higher education are described, and research results on one type (merger) are presented. A continuum of cooperative endeavors are considered: voluntary cooperative agreements, formalized consortiums, federations, mergers, and closings. The objective of the research was to determine conditions…

Organizational change at Wells College, New York, is traced from 1876-1905 in relation to women's role in higher education. This excerpt of a larger study indicates how women worked within a female college that had male authority figures at a time in which there were strong notions about proper feminine behavior. The college was intended to train…