Examines two research orientations for departments of education--the craft-based model using generalists and former practitioners and the discipline-based model using specialists grounded in the humanities or social sciences. Criticizes weaknesses of both approaches and proposes a third model--the disciplined study of problems of practice.…

Explores compensation practices fundamental to the school board/employee exchange relationship, using a sample of 615 midwestern superintendents. Employs an organizational justice model, focusing on its procedural and distributive dimensions. Explores procedural justice via market-rate earnings equations and distributive justice by examining…

Advocates a critical constructivist approach to educational administration. Establishes the need for research accounts exploring the administrator's legitimation role. Describes a mediation model providing access to the invisible ways that dominant social constructions are accomplished and sustained through management of meaning. Discusses…

Examines reform debates in educational administration training programs using a theoretical framework derived from Thomas Kuhn's notion of paradigm. Most administrator training programs in the United States are characterized as hybrid/preparadigm departments unlikely to undertake fundamental changes. Using a collaborative school leadership program…

Uses chaos systems concepts to analyze a case study of rapid growth and conflict in a southwestern school district. Difficulties arising from the need for very precise initial measurements, data forms adaptable to pattern modeling, and precise meanings for chaotic systems concepts limit chaotic theory's application to educational administration…

Educational administration research is frequently criticized for overlooking issues of learning and teaching in schools. This special issue features four articles suggesting steps to establish a larger research agenda on learning, teaching, and educational administration. Topics include common schooling problems, school-based management,…

Since 1980, most English-speaking nations have experienced a sea change in how people think about educational policy and school management. This article argues for scrutinizing both paradigms or theories influencing our thinking and consequences of built-in biases. Drawing on the British and U.S. experience, the article examines dramatic…

Describes the current state of knowledge about human decision-making and problem-solving processes, explaining recent developments and their implications for management and management training. Rational goal-setting is the key to effective decision making and accomplishment. Bounded rationality is a realistic orientation, because the world is too…