This paper examines some of the factors involved in the dissatisfaction theory of local school governance. This theory holds that change in school board policy comes about through voter dissatisfaction expressed at the polls, since there is no other way for citizens to express their desires. School board "culture" dictates that the board…

Focuses on school boards as sociocultural systems. Asserts that boards' decision-making processes operate within a cultural context and have, over the centuries of their existence, developed a culture of their own. Proposes that culture dictates a decision-making output that is not as responsive or immediate as would be expected. (Author/MK)

Legislated change in rural schools districts may be slow and painful. This paper describes the ambience of a rural Texas K-12 school through the eyes of a new science teacher with northern and urban education experience and through the observations of an outside researcher. Attitudes that learning is not important, that hard subjects need not be…

The vast majority of American Indian students are educated in public school districts controlled by locally elected school boards. If Indian parents are to influence the education of their children they must become knowledgeable in political methods of influencing local school boards. The process of Indian influence in educational decisions was…

Summarizes the viability of the vulnerability thesis as a tool in accounting for school superintendent behavior today, suggesting how the thesis can be built on in order to better understand the political world of superintendency. The paper suggests some social and political theories that might extend the thesis, further clarifying the…

Attention to the politics of education particularly as operated within urban school boards using the concept of elite-arena councils is drawn in this paper. A brief summary of the data and the political-anthropological concepts used to analyze the data, conclusions and recommendations based on those data, and their analysis are presented. The…

To understand the effect of the union contract upon the leadership behavior of the urban principal, teacher-principal relationships in New York City were examined via observational and survey techniques. Gouldner's model of types of rule administration served as the impetus for the following central hypotheses: (1) Mock rule administration would…