The educational change strategy termed "reaching success through involvement" (RSI) has yielded promising results in creating school effectiveness. This paper analyzes the theoretical bases and practical applications of RSI strategy among 14 schools over an 8-year period. RSI theory assumes that educational organizations are dynamic social systems…

Theoretical analysis of educational administration as presented by advocates of corporate culture is inappropriately applied to the analysis of schooling. The corporate culture model has diverged from the "New Sociology of Education" approach, which interprets administrative processes as cultural politics (Bates 1983). That "corporate culture" is…

This study is a comprehensive exploration of six mechanisms of control, both hierarchical and nonhierarchical, which constrain the work of elementary school principals but provide them a balance of control and autonomy. The database consists of extensive indepth interviews with 113 elementary school principals in 59 school districts from 3…

This summary provides an overview of three reports comprising a study of resource allocation policies through various organizational structures at both the education system and school levels. An introduction briefly reviews related research and outlines the overall structure of the study, citing some issues of special concern: the balance between…

Directed primarily toward small school administrators and school boards, this publication describes a consortium of five rural school districts in central Missouri and how they used a traveling teacher to facilitate incorporation of microcomputer capabilities into the school systems' operation and curriculum. The paper describes the use of the…

This report contends that current university-based research and development activities investigating successful secondary schools provide an exceptional mechanism for coordinating all three aspects of assessing successful schools: legal compliance, student performance, and quality of school life. A typology of schools is proposed to account for…

Single- and double-loop organizational learning are discussed in the context of higher education retrenchment. A model of the research university illuminates impediments to internal resource reallocation, program elimination, and integrative leadership, and suggests the need for alternatives to usual efforts to increase efficiency while retaining…

This report discusses the structural conditions under which organizational development (OD), as employed in the school systems of the United States and Canada, is more or less applicable to schools. The first section (chapters 1-6) reviews papers and books, concerning either OD in general or the ways in which the ideas of OD have been used in the…

A framework for articulating postsecondary instructional programs is described. The framework identifies two important sources of influence on programs: the type of institution within which the program operates and the program objectives. These factors influence both program components and how these components are linked and processes that are…

The development of course materials at the Open Learning Institute, British Columbia, Canada, is examined from two perspectives: as an industrial process and as a social process. The public institute provides distance education through paced home-study courses. The course team model used at the Institute is a system approach. Course development…

Embodying a thoroughly grass-roots, democratic approach, the Native American Language Education (NALE) Project of D-Q University began operation during 1973-74. Local Native Americans are employed to work with the indigenous population in the local communities. Members of the local community are provided the time and opportunity to discuss, meet,…

This report builds a case for survey feedback as a useful method of assisting schools to respond actively, rather than passively, to uncertainty and complexity in the school environment. The main argument is that passive responses, such as defensiveness and buffering, reduce educational effectiveness. Planning, an active response, creates…

This study explored the role of the resource network coordinator in contemporary university-school-community agency partnerships. The study involved nine inter-organizational partnerships linked through a nationally administered multiyear grant program. Partnerships were based on holistic concepts of children's conditions and provided integrated…

Discussion of human resource management focuses on academic libraries. Topics addressed include the influence of information technology; strategic planning; equal opportunities; recruitment; staff appraisal; quality of working life; motivation; job satisfaction; participative management; leadership; burnout; conflict; organizational structures;…

Quality-improvement principles are a sound means to respond to customer needs. However, when various quality and productivity theories and methods are applied, it is very difficult to consistently deliver quality results, especially in quasi-monopolistic, non-competitive, and regulated environments. This book focuses on quality-improvement methods…