Purpose: This paper conceptualizes a just leadership learning ecology through an analysis of one nontraditional site of leadership preparation: the Highlander Research and Education Center (originally founded as the Highlander Folk School). Methodology: Drawing on cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) and institutional theory (IT), we examine…

Background: The purpose of this article is to examine the contributions, gaps, and normativity problems in mainstream sociocultural theories, curriculum theory, and educational leadership studies, considering reflective education theories that provide a less normative alternative. Framework: Our framework introduces reflective education for social…

Purpose: This article proposes the utility of using activity theory as an analytical lens to examine the theoretical construct of distributed leadership, specifically to illuminate tensions encountered by leaders and how they resolved these tensions. Research Method: The study adopted the naturalistic inquiry approach of a case study of an…

Purpose: The purpose of the present study is to explore the process, routines, and structuration at successful schools leading their students to high achievements. Method: The approach of building a theory from case study research together with process perspective and an organizational routines model were applied to analyzing seven successful…

Purpose: The article's purpose is to highlight a national qualitative study that generated a model for understanding how society's actions and attitudes affect and inform the lived experiences of lesbian/gay (LG) educational leaders. Research Methods/Approach: Three bodies of literature informed the methods of the study: queer legal theory,…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is twofold: to delineate a theory of transformative leadership, distinct from other theories (transformational or transactional leadership); and to assess the utility of the theory for guiding the practice of educational leaders who want to effect both educational and broader social change. Approach and…

Purpose: The study is a two-stage inquiry into the influence of high school principals and department chairpersons on the nature of science and mathematics teachers' community of practice participation. Of particular interest is the extent to which formal leaders influence the formation of productive communities of practice and the extent to which…

Responds to an earlier comment by R. Jean Hills regarding the correct use of Parsonian concepts. Notes the difficulty of presenting Parsons' theory and quotes several sources supporting his interpretation of the functions of a system's managerial level. (RW)

Responding to Willower's earlier questioning of the concept of systems' functional requirements, the author outlines the Parsonian theory of action, discussing action systems' components (values, norms, organizations, and facilities) and their functional imperatives or requirements (pattern maintenance, integration, goal attainment, and…

Responds to an earlier comment, in a continuing discussion of Parsonian functional imperatives and their basis in observation, their intellectual status, their ability to be tested empirically, and the number of imperatives. (RW)

According to the reviewer, Coleman claims that many current social policies deliberately or inadvertently undermine families, clans, religious organizations, and community institutions that have been sustaining social structures for thousands of years. Coleman suggests that "modern corporate actors" (even schools) cannot replace…

Although William P. Foster assumed the critical theorist's stance of revealing the presumptions and assumptions of educational leadership, he, among others, also provided the underpinnings for the field's current attention to issues of social justice. This article furthers the call, which Foster articulated in his final article, to assert…

Traces through Thomas Greenfield's work his use of Max Weber's interpretive social analysis, including Weber's view of the individual unit of analysis, value topologies, comparative history methods, and analytical ideal topologies. Compares Greenfield's and Weber's metaphysical assumptions, ontological perspectives, and epistemological frameworks.…

Examines the state of educational policy analysis, discussing the field's history, conceptual approaches to policy, areas of policy that have been studied, and methodological issues. Concludes with speculation on the future of policy research. (MCG)

In replies to two critiques of his 1980 article, appearing in the fall 1982 issue of "Educational Administration Quarterly," the author first questions the notion that all organizations must meet certain requirements to survive and, second, denies that structured observation research on school administrators is "neo-Taylorism."…