As experienced by vocational teachers in five California comprehensive high schools, the peripheral nature of vocational education results from two dimensions of school context. First, the purposes and priorities of these comprehensive high schools tend to be ordered in ways that concentrate symbolic acclaim and material resources on academic…

Following a description of how the political climate in the 1960s through the 1980s influenced education, this document discusses the effects of districtwide curriculum standardization on Burr Oaks Elementary School in the midwestern village of Burr Oaks. The school's community setting, use of curriculum guides, and initial use of curriculum…

In February, 1985, the Ford Foundation launched an experimental program to strengthen mathematics education in inner-city high schools. Five grants helped establish urban mathematics collaboratives (UMC) in Cleveland, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Later, additional UMCs were set up in Durham, Memphis, New…

The relationship between educational finance and organizational effectiveness or "health" in 50 Connecticut high schools was examined. Data were collected using existing organizational health questionnaires and archival data. A sample was randomly selected from the population of public high schools in Connecticut. Seven…

The issue of faculty vitality and an institutional case study are discussed, along with implications for academic policy. The literature of faculty vitality reveals a situational, contextual dimension that makes defining the concept difficult. It is helpful to view the college as an organization in which faculty members pursue careers as scholars,…

Issues concerning the college as a community of inquiry, scholarship, and learning are considered, based on a 1982 conference at Colgate University. The conference addressed the problem of non-community in the academy, along with different conceptions of solving this problem. Conference participants described both typical experiences of academic…

The purpose of this study is to shift the focus of research away from problems faced by administrators making reduction in force or reassignment/rank reduction policies to a consideration of the experiences of those affected by such policies. Following descriptions of the study's open-ended ethnographic interviewing technique, the criteria for…

This case study describes an experienced high school teacher's difficulties in an Alaskan town with severe tensions between Caucasian and Eskimo students and between community members and teachers. This "teaching case" helps preservice teachers understand the complex, ambiguous situations which arise in rural teaching. The limitations of…

This study addressed the question: Why do parochial school students in Rhode Island tend to perform better than public school students in relation to national norms on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS)? Data for examination of school setting and population factors were collected from interviews with teachers and administrators, a short…

Nine North Dakota school districts, containing fewer than 40 teachers each, were selected and agreed to particpate in a 1976 study of the extent of professional activities by teachers and their level of morale. A survey instrument, developed to determine level of involvement in professional activities, contained questions pertaining to: membership…

This study investigated the range and types of activities undertaken by Technical and Further Education (TAFE) teachers in Western Australia. Descriptive profiles of TAFE teachers and of what they do in the context of their work are presented. The study also examined a variety of nonteaching and teaching-related responsibilities of the teachers.…

A comparative analysis of college and university governance and the organizational features that affect decision-making and professional practice is presented. Based on information from hundreds of campuses and thousands of campus administrators and faculty, and on institutional case studies, the book offers information about participation in and…

This study attempts to evaluate the effects of special training for collegial supervision under the conditions of two types of organization development (OD) training within the multiunit school. The first type of OD intervention involved training for all the staff members of a multiunit school. The second was called group development (GD) and…

An Organizational Development (OD) questionnaire was designed at Los Angeles Southwest College to enhance planned change in that educational organization. The questionnaire measures attitudes in seven organizational development concept areas: (1) institutional climate indices--opportunity for advancement, general institutional conditions, concern…

A colloquium series in higher education at the University of Minnesota in the fall and winter of 1977-1978 examined the influence of academic reward systems on faculty behavior and academic productivity. These essays are the collective results of their findings and recommendations. Essays include: "Perspectives from Psychology: Financial…