The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of the opinions of private practitioners and educational advocates on instructional leaders' decision-making processes when making a recommendation for special education eligibility. School-based administrators (n = 56) with varying years of experience as special education administrators…

Significant progress has been made in equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) individuals, yet schools remain institutions where sexual and gender diversity are marginalized and/or silenced. Queer theory, a non-linear theory that disrupts dominant beliefs about gender and sexuality and what…

The perplexing numbers of Somali children withdrawn from schools in Norway and sent to Somalia is the concern of this study. These students are often brought back and re-enroll later as adolescents with concomitant educational challenges. The findings are critically analyzed employing John Ogbu's cultural ecology of minorities and a CHAT-based…

Action research in schools implies that the researchers and the teachers should collaborate on solving problems and improving practice. One underlying premise when choosing, such an approach, is that the participants are interested in, and willing to participate in such a process. In this article, the authors explore how words and utterances…

As a lens through which to read and understand a subject area and its curriculum content and issues, a sociocultural perspective is a recent and arguably significant change for the Health and Physical Education (HPE) Key Learning Area (KLA) in Australia. Its significance lies, first, in the fact that it seems to represent a notable departure from…

This paper presents a practice-based theory of administrative, supervisory, and organizational decision-making, which views the organizational decision-making process as a social enterprise. It also describes how to facilitate organizational change by promoting faculty involvement and shows how to increase the potential success of reform efforts.…

Using techniques of the reputational method to study community power structure, this report identifies components of power structure in a Tennessee school district, demonstrates that proven methodologies can facilitate educational leaders' reform efforts, and serves as a pilot study for further investigation. Researchers investigated the district…

This monograph presents an overview of reports from a 4-year intensive research study of internal life among 3 Swedish compulsory schools and includes discussion of a 10-year follow-up study of 12 senior-level compulsory schools. The 4-year project sought to understand innovative processes, but because few innovations were observed, research…

In a comparative analysis of values in state education policy, this paper demonstrates the need for a multifaceted methodology to understand the complexity that characterizes state sociopolitical systems. The paper refers to a study of education policy values among six states in its analysis. Identifying values and their influence form the central…

Symbolic leadership and culture are the guiding concepts of nine selections presented in this 1987 yearbook. In part 1, "Organizational Perspectives on the Work of Leaders," Terrence E. Deal predicts that future educational organizations will depend upon leaders who have shaped cultural patterns from traditions, current realities, and…