This essay addresses changes in perspectives, research, theories, and practices in educational administration. The first part discusses theories and studies of educational administration, taking the position that educational administration is an applied science. That is, most theories in the social sciences, like educational administration,…

This analysis examines the effects of school and organizational characteristics on teacher turnover and, in turn, school staffing problems. The analyses are based on data from the Schools and Staffing Survey and its supplement, the Teacher Followup Survey, a large, comprehensive, nationally representative survey of teachers and schools conducted…

Discussion of changes in higher education as a result of advances in information technology focuses on the relationship between academic libraries and computing centers. Highlights include collaborative relationships; virtual information organizations; libraries as knowledge management centers; support for curriculum development; teaching…

Maintains that the study of complex organizations has long been central to sociology. Presents and describes a college assignment based on the sociological practice perspective, a new approach to social science instruction. Includes a six-step student process, information on grading, and a sample of student questions. (CFR)

The documents enclosed in this report provide a comprehensive and systematic review of the progress made in developing a network organization capable of supporting nanoscience education for the public on a national scale. There is a logic to the studies that were done and to the reports that are included in this notebook. The following are the…

This paper presents a grounded theory of educational partnership process. A case-study design was used to describe aspects of the partnership process of the Cooperative Alliance for Gifted Education (CAGE) during part of its second year of operation. Three organizations served as partners: a large urban school district, a state university, and a…

This paper examines the issues that emerged in the first six months of a collaborative program initiated by the Massachusetts State Department of Education for simultaneously developing or improving middle school teacher preparation programs and restructuring middle schools. The literature on interorganizational collaboration provides a framework…

This book traces the restructuring of a Texas school district that moved from management by coercion to continuous improvement for quality. In 1990, the Dickinson Independent School District (Texas) began implementation of Continuous Improvement Management (CIM), based on the teachings of W. Edwards Deming, William Glasser, and J. M. Juran.…

This book is based on the belief that the American education system is in crisis and requires radical systemic change. Because this change is to be designed and carried out by those within schools and not through external mandates, the book focuses on the management responsibilities of the principal and teachers. It draws heavily on the…

This essay reviews quality of work life as a management technique and argues that quality-of-work-life programs, conceptualized multidimensionally, offer a unique mechanism for improving working conditions in schools and within districts. A brief analysis of major management ideologies concludes that some techniques advocated under the label of…

This paper identifies two broad types of "critical" ethnographic research. One type attempts to empower social actors by providing emic-oriented accounts which tend to emphasize the integrity of their constructs, thus laying the groundwork for a redistribution of social power. The other type attempts to combine analysis of phenomenal, micro-level…

This report of a 1986 survey conducted in Maine addresses the relationship between stated time use demands on principals and superintendents and the structural complexity of the organizations in which they work. Researchers, comparing single with multiple schools and districts of supervisory responsibility, mailed the Maine Administrative…

Building on previous investigations of the effects of team-organized instructional arrangements on elementary school teachers' sense of autonomy, this report reexamines data from 14 multiunit schools which still retained the team instructional plan at the end of the second year of implementation. Indicators measured were interdependent teaching…

This research study, still in the data collection stage, analyzes teacher recruitment among nine Winnipeg area school divisions by describing practices and decision-making criteria. The report focuses on three elements in the decision-making process as defined by Lipham--decision stages, decision involvement, and decision content. Data were…

This paper summarizes recent research on the way women define themselves, the way they reason about moral dilemmas, the way they learn, and how they view success and maturity. Two related questions are then addressed: (1) Are the characteristics of women compatible with the dominant mode of operating in organizations or institutions? and (2) How…