WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF A RECOMMENDATION FOR DECENTRALIZATION, THIS SPEECH DESCRIBES P.S. 192M IN HARLEM, WHICH IS ADMINISTERED BY AN INDEPENDENT PRINCIPAL WHO IS THE KEY FIGURE IN DETERMINING THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION HIS STUDENTS RECEIVE. HOWEVER, A PRINCIPAL USUALLY DOES NOT HAVE THIS FREEDOM AND IS SOMETIMES LIMITED BY THE "BUREAUCRATIC…

THIS LONGITUDINAL FIELD STUDY EXAMINED THE INFORMAL RELATIONSHIPS BY WHICH SCHOOL ORIENTED LEADERS INFLUENCED THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLICY IN THE EDUCATIONAL ARENA OF AN OREGON COMMUNITY. CONSIDERED WERE 15 BUSINESSMEN AND PROFESSIONALS WHO WERE NAMED AS LEADERS BY MANY OTHERS IN THE COMMUNITY AND WERE ALSO RECOGNIZED AS BEING INFLUENTIAL IN LOCAL…

The project discussed here was an outgrowth of a Title I, Elementary Seconoary Education Act cooperative project involving nine Arkansas school districts. Initiated during 1971-72 school year, the cooperative's first two years focused on developing and field testing procedures for conducting district wide assessment of needs, program planning, and…

This paper describes the Detroit Education Task Force and its efforts to develop a problem-solving agenda for the Detroit public schools. The paper describes the background and history of the task force and analyzes its relationship with the Detroit Central Board of Education and with administrators of the Detroit school system. The educational…

This report summarizes and draws implications from a two-year pilot program in which 12 elementary school principals received training designed to help them become more effective leaders in their own school settings. The goal of the program was to enable participating principals to define and enact the leadership roles best suited to their…

This paper advocates combining two commonly employed perspectives--the cultural and the political--to overcome the limitations of using either perspective alone to explain and evaluate interactions within educational-administration settings. The mix of concepts adopted within cultural or political perspectives varies, which leads to differing…

This paper examines various career paths leading to deanship and considers the implications of the findings for women and minorities who aspire to this position. The paper is part of a larger study of academic deanship conducted by the Center for Academic Leadership at Washington State University between October 1996 and January 1997. Data for the…

Data from 45 school districts in western South Dakota indicate that the principal administrative problem of rural superintendents is maintaining a quality staff of teachers who can work with the unique strengths and weaknesses found in a rural setting. (CM)

Data on perceived sense-of-power and perceived threat-of-sanction, gathered from a probability sample of 129 Detroit suburban teachers through questionnaires and interviews, indicate both the principal and superintendent are perceived as controlling curriculum decision making. Teachers feel that they should be major curricular influence, but it is…

The job behaviors of local school superintendents were self-reported along four dimensions: (1) the issues addressed; (2) the individuals contacted; (3) behaviors performed; and (4) information sources used. The job profiles obtained were contrasted with reported findings for chief executive officers and managers in the private sector. (Author/GDC)

Draws on over 50 studies of effective schools to determine the role of effective administrators in school improvement planning, staff development, program development, and school assessment. Summarizes survey responses of 200 nonurban administrators concerning their desires for additional training in areas of instructional leadership. Contains 20…

Describes a collaborative, interdisciplinary curriculum project, the QUEST Program, at Northampton (Massachusetts) High School. The program was embraced by school staff and collaboratively designed with Smith College faculty. The article examines roadblocks and requirements to educational change within QUEST and discusses problems with instituting…

Discusses principals' roles as instructional leaders in effective schools. Principals must understand their communities, envision effective schools, create mission statements and determine ideal situations for fulfilling them, spend sufficient time before implementation to help faculty accept changes, pilot and monitor new approaches, and…

Explains the rationale, objectives, and content of a seminar program in the Soviet Union for school administrators. Describes the work of the department of public education's Faculty of Upgrading Pedagogical Qualifications in promoting administrators' professional development and mastery of administrative principles. Emphasizes the need to…

Generic school administration training is insufficient to prepare principals of two-way bilingual schools. Interviews with 14 administrators of two-way bilingual schools in Miami and Washington (DC) identified skills they considered essential for management of two-way bilingual schools, including strategies to increase internal unity, ensure…