This presentation introduces the methods of negotiation and mediation in transdisciplinary decision-making, and applies the methods specifically to the educational needs and placements of students with disabilities. Four stages of mediation are described: problem identification, generation of problem-solving options, evaluation of options, and…

This paper describes a process for determining priorities within an extension unit. The process involves pooling the judgment of extension programmers to produce a valid "average" judgment, even where considerable diversity of opinion exists. Discussed first are the stages involved in program priority-setting, the budget-setting process,…

The concept of power, fundamental to understanding human interactions and institutions, remains puzzling, elusive, theoretically complex, and largely unexamined by practitioners. A school restructuring agenda that purportedly changes power relationships in schools is being proposed and tested throughout the country. Basic questions are being asked…

Maine's 1984 Teacher Certification Law provides opportunity for local career ladders, a larger participatory role for local teachers in the certification process, and mandated professional assistance for new teachers in their beginning years. A target date of 1988 has been set for full implementation of all components of the legislation. Key…

The Advisory Model of Staff Development, developed in the Jackson (Mississippi) Public School System, consists of three primary components, each interacting with the others. The System-Wide Staff Development plan is prepared by a committee composed of teachers, administrators, school-board members and laypersons. This insures equity of staff…

Mounds View, a K-12 district serving 11,400 students in the St. Paul and Minneapolis (Minnesota) suburbs, used to experience prolonged, hostile negotiations between administrators and the teachers' association. After a particularly bitter round of bargaining in 1984, the district began searching for less adversarial approaches. The district hired…

The drive for improved school and classroom climate, for increased teacher and student involvement in decision-making, and for more positive teacher and student expectations are becoming prime areas for joint educational and behavioral science efforts. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a year-long classroom social competence training…

Specifically designed for teachers, administrators, and other school decision-makers, this monograph outlines ways quality circles can be used to improve educational planning and decision-making. The first of four sections defines quality circles as a group of workers who identify, analyze, and propose solutions to problems within their scope of…

An on-going experiment in the classroom use of the Japanese quality circle concept of consensus and group management has been conducted for the past 2 years at the Ogontz Campus of Pennsylvania State University. Quality circles composed of the teacher and eight student volunteers meet weekly for 45 minutes, with each member informing three other…

Chapter 5 of a revised volume on school leadership, this chapter presents the case for school-based management, stressing the principal's central role. In site management, the school is the primary decision-making unit. Decisions concerning expenditures, curricula, and personnel are made by school site staff, with help from parents, students, and…

This monograph discusses the characteristics, tasks, and benefits of interdisciplinary team organization in middle schools. Characteristics include teachers who share a common group of students, a common planning period, and adjacent classroom space. Team tasks are composed of scheduling, grouping students, identifying curriculum topics and…

This study, a research component of Tennessee's 1987-1988 Leadership in Educational Administration Development (LEAD) project, describes actual and preferred teacher involvement in selected school activities. Two hundred and three teachers in 18 schools ranked their degree of actual and preferred involvement in determining school activities. The…

A combination of crises and innovative attempts to manage them that began in 1980 transformed the relationship between Xerox Corporation and the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, which represents most of Xerox's manufacturing employees. Eight pivotal episodes were largely responsible for the transformation. The first was a joint…

Richard Spady has identified 10 general theories through research in the field of administrative theory. Three of the theories are stressed in this paper. First, the theory of learning that uplifts the importance of the Socratic method is stressed, followed by a reflection on the research of Arthur W. Combs that defined the characteristics of good…

Attempting to address the unique situation of beginning teachers and respond to increasing interest in teacher training, certification, support systems, and teacher empowerment, the Select Seminar for Beginning Teachers drew together 11 new teachers, 4 returning teachers, and 5 administrators from 16 school districts in upstate New York. This…