Effective teacher supervision for successful schools seeks to remove obstacles in the work environment that hinder teachers from seeing each other at work, receiving feedback from others, engaging in professional dialog, and participating in decisions about collective instructional actions. Just as teachers try to encourage the cognitive…

Unpredicted ways in which the use of computers has affected social interactions in colleges and universities are considered. Information was gathered from a literature review and from personal observations. One outcome of introducing computers into an academic or administrative unit is the development of alliances depending on prior experience…

During the school year 1981-1982 a series of eight workshops were given in an elementary school and a secondary school in two different school districts. In addition socialization opportunities were provided for both faculties. The purpose of the program was to foster mentoring relationships and by so doing to help staff growth and development and…

Although the functional relationship between school board and superintendent is a critical connection that stands at the apex of the organizational pyramid in education, little is known about that linkage, other than the tension endemic to the relationship. This study therefore examines how superintendents and school boards interact and inquires…

This paper examines the similarities and differences among five countries (West Germany, United Kingdom, United States, Japan, and Singapore) concerning teachers' perceptions of administrators and of administrative tasks or policies as sources of both enthusiasm and discouragement in their work. The study also summarizes the explanations offered…

Public school teachers often work in "classroom cells" that are "symbols and predictive of their relative isolation from one another and from sources of ideas beyond their own background of experience." This type of environment, where teachers rarely join in collaborative endeavors and spend little of their professional time with other adult…

Two innovative methods for collecting and analyzing qualitative data are vignettes and pre-structured cases. Vignettes are descriptions of situations or problems written by a professional, with a suggested outline and comments provided by a researcher. Advantages of this method are strength of impact of the written descriptions and efficiency of…

This paper rests on two propositions: that inservice training must radically change to result in the transfer of training to classroom practice, and that inservice training must be embedded in coherent school improvement programs in order for change to be sustained. Accordingly, the first section reviews three recent research studies designed to…

Using role concepts and organizational theory, this case study examined the role enactments of 26 teachers in a large urban elementary school in the Midwest. Data were gathered through interviews and through observation of teacher interaction with students, colleagues, and administrators. The study concentrated especially on the ways teachers…

This staff development module is part of one of three groups of career guidance modules developed, field-tested, and revised by a six-state consortium coordinated by the American Institutes for Research. This module is designed for guidance personnel who work in counseling and guidance with students in school settings, grades K-12, and especially…

The major components of collegial interaction of college and university faculty and of faculty in different disciplinary groupings were studied, and the way that these components differ among four-year college and university faculty were addressed. Faculty at a Ph.D.-granting university and two liberal arts colleges were studied. Pilot interviews…

Perceptions of power identified with upper level, noninstructional staff (professional staff) in a complex university were studied based on interviews with professional staff, their superordinates and subordinates, and faculty. Professional staff offices included the upper echelon of the nonacademic staff hierarchy holding such titles as assistant…

As part of their study of interorganizational collaboration, researchers present three detailed case studies of how regional education agencies (REAs) supply knowledge utilization services to the school districts they serve. The three REAs are the Wayne County (Michigan) Intermediate School District (with 36 districts), the Educational Improvement…

This guide on developing an agency profile is one of 28 guides designed for organizations serving the blind and the visually handicapped who are undertaking a self-study as part of the process for accreditation by the National Accreditation Council (NAC). Instructions for preparing a packet of informative data and material for advance study by…

This summary report about Project Renewal provides an overview of the need for faculty development and the concept of a representative faculty collaborative. The purpose of the project was to prepare the State College System for the establishment of a Center for Educational Development, a conceptual center, rather than a geographical center.…