The institutional environment of America's schools has changed substantially as government regulation has focused increasingly on the core technical work of schools--instruction. The authors explore the school administrative response to this changing environment, describing how government regulation becomes embodied in the formal structure of four…

New small autonomous schools initiatives are relatively recent educational change strategies that in some urban districts aim to remake how district central offices function as institutions. In this article, the author draws on theories of organizational innovation and learning to reveal how central office administrators participate in these…

This article, based on a longitudinal interview study of 50 new teachers in Massachusetts, presents respondents' reasons for staying in their schools, moving to new schools, or leaving public school teaching within their first 3 years of teaching. Although the respondents' prior career orientations, financial situations, and preparation played a…

Ethnographic methods were used to assess three learning-disabled and three normal tenth and eleventh grade boys at a school with an unusually low dropout rate. Institutional, classroom, and interpersonal factors behind the schools' student retention ability are described. (TJH)