School leaders will never have an easy job, especially those who sit in the principal's chair. Yet identifying site needs, establishing priorities, and devoting the bulk of one's time to these priorities enables principals to more effectively take control of their day. It can be hard to deal with what is important instead of what is urgent, but…

This study positioned the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2002 as a reified colonizing entity, inscribing its hegemonic authority upon the professional identity and work of school principals within their school communities of practice. Pressure on educators and students intensifies each year as the benchmark for Adequate Yearly Progress…

A graduate student in a language program finds himself running out of reasons to write. He has been gaining a power of words but has been losing something at the same time, some autonomy or sense of community, of place, of being "somebody." Having spent several years teaching in a public high school, he returned to the university to…

A review of the nature of educational reforms over the years provides evidence that education reform is a recurrent issue, and that the aims and focus of reforms also tend to be cyclical. Two characteristics of reform--programmatic and systemic--are identified, and it is pointed out that the major focus of previous reform cycles has been on…

Although the terms autonomy and advocacy have proliferated in nursing literature and in nursing curricula over the past decade, the degree to which registered nurses claim these dimensions in their practices and in their thinking has remained unknown. A study was conducted to determine the relationship between nurses' self-concepts and their…

Proposes an analytical conceptual framework and an instrument (Teacher Implementation Autonomy Profile) to reveal teacher autonomy in curriculum implementation. The instrument disclosed components describing expected autonomy and differentiated types of curricula. Sample analysis suggests an operative interpretation of autonomy, indicating that…

Discusses the rise of the concept of teacher autonomy between 1925 and 1980 in England and Wales. Shows how such autonomy was associated with certain government actions aimed at moving from a system of direct control to a system of indirect control more akin to the benign rule of a colonial government. (JDH)

Summarizes the Carnegie Foundation president's September 1987 speech concerning this generations's most urgent task--rebuilding the nation's schools. Warns that today's teachers may have gained in competency and responsibility, but not in empowerment to shape curricula, plan inservice programs, or shape student retention and special education…

Economic pressure has played a role in most clashes between independent alumni associations and their college administrations. Some pros and cons of independence are provided and some events of the past few years are described. (MLW)

The author traces the progress of a group of teachers who meet regularly to discuss and explore the insights, uncertainties, and paradoxes that arise from teaching. He finds that the group evolved through three phases: (1) collegiality, (2) efforts to gain policy power, and (3) increasing confidence through knowledge. (Author/CH)

The author discusses the development of her concept of empowerment and its current expression in a teacher education program. She explores three ways in which she works to empower students in teacher training: (1) invention of curriculum, (2) ongoing peer relations, and (3) child study. (Author/CH)

Teachers are in the awkward position of exercising authority, yet have dubious control over the conditions within which they do so. The ideal teacher role is authority exercised in good faith and a commitment to the burdens and uncertainties of educational authority. (CB)

The problematic relationship of knowledge and social-political power, as it affects the standings and justification of educational authority, is probed. Ways in which knowledge claims may legitimately support some forms of authority in practice are discussed. (CB)

The "hard" use of authority to produce change confronts obstacles that transcend administrative strategies. This article presents a conceptual analysis of authority and its constraints and shows how current conceptions of democracy, evaluation, and authority are interdependent. (CB)

Discusses the experiences of several consumer educators and shows how they sometimes are exposed to serious pressure by persons and organizations in the business community, pressure that represents a threat to academic freedom and integrity. (JOW)