A qualitative study of faculty, distance education program administrators, and chief academic officers at four research universities found that distance education has marginal status, is not highly valued or well rewarded, and is not highly related to promotion and tenure. The study concluded that institutional commitment to distance education…

University teachers (N=118) in Sweden assessed their organization on 17 dimensions. Two dimensions, creativity and productivity, were regarded as consequences of organizational conditions. Factor analysis yielded five factors: creativity, productivity, sufficient resources, and organizational climate. Productivity was related to variables of human…

Universities currently face new environmental demands and significant internal complexities that appear to challenge their traditional modes of work and organization--and thus their very identities. In this essay, Mark Considine argues that the prospect of such changes requires us to reflect carefully upon the theoretical and normative…

Stewardship, defined in terms of shared beliefs, social structure, and organizational routines, was explored using a comparative case study approach to determine how conditions in the institutional and task environments and internal organizational characteristics influence the nature of the stewardship process in five professional schools at the…

Purpose: It is argued in this paper that opportunities for learning manifest themselves in the form of frictions between the structure-as-experienced by actors and the structure-as-preferred. These frictions are considered as potential triggers of learning processes. The concept of friction promises to contribute to our understanding of factors…

Previous research has indicated significant variation between schools in the proportion of their students who go on to higher education. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the specific school characteristics influencing application and entry to tertiary education. This paper sets out to analyse the individual and school factors…

A study examined the influence of differences in school district organization on internal school organizational processes that are central to reform strategies, such as teacher cooperation and instructional leadership. Data were obtained from interviews conducted with the principals of 98 Tennessee elementary schools that participated in the…

The Coordinated Approach to Investigations and Information-Sharing (CAIIS) Project conducted research to clarify roles and responsibilities for investigating child abuse and neglect in 24-hour facilities. The goal of the project was to develop, refine, and disseminate model guidelines for investigating institutional child abuse and neglect reports…

Research indicates that the characteristics of schools can affect student performance. School improvement reforms depend on the involvement of individual teachers and administrators, but research also suggests that individuals are more likely to commit themselves to change when a positive, supportive change environment pervades the entire…

Reported are the results of a questionnaire mailed to all public supported institutions for the mentally retarded regarding the physical arrangement of buildings housing the various IQ levels. (DB)

Models of organizational structures developed through the study of commercial organizations are not necessarily applicable to educational organizations. Technical organizations such as factories act to regulate the flow of their processes and products and, thus, to buffer them from external forces. Institutional organizations such as schools or…

DEVELOPED FOR USE IN 4-YEAR ACCREDITED INSTITUTIONS, COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY ENVIRONMENT SCALES (CUES) WERE CONSTRUCTED FROM THOSE ITEMS WHICH DISCRIMINATED MOST CLEARLY THE ENVIRONMENTAL DIFFERENCES AMONG 50 SUCH INSTITUTIONS. A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF THE USE OF CUES IN 32 JUNIOR COLLEGES IN CALIFORNIA, TEXAS, AND MINNESOTA SHOWED THAT (1)…

SIX FACTORS OR CATEGORIES OF COLLEGE CHARACTERISTICS WERE COMPUTED FOR 581 ACCREDITED JUNIOR COLLEGES. WHEN THESE INSTITUTIONS WERE CLASSIFIED AND ANALYZED BY GEOGRAPHICAL REGION, SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES WERE FOUND AMONG REGIONS ON ALL SIX FACTORS. ON THE CULTURAL AFFLUENCE OR PRIVATE CONTROL FACTOR, THE MAIN TREND SEEMS TO BE FOR COLLEGES IN THE…